GH Their Story
by SterlingClear
Summary: Oliver Davis and Mai Taniyama take on the World one mystery at a time; with a little help from their friends, of course.
1. The Playing Field

A/N: This is a post-manga canon story with an eventual Mai/Naru pairing, plus some potentially romantic advancements made between Ayako and Bou-san. I hope to focus on their struggle to control their abilities while taking on some scary cases, some not so scary cases and every day life challenges. I hope you enjoy it, let me know what needs work.

I don't own Ghost Hunt.

 **The Playing Field**

* * *

It was nearly the end of June in her second year of high school and Mai; who was early for a change, was enjoying a brief detour through the new park across from the schoolyard. It was located where the old school house used to be before it collapsed a little over a year ago now.

The thought made Her pause. Had it only been that long? It was hard to think about how different her life had been before the old school house brought them all together. It never ceased to surprise her how easily life can be turned on its head, despite all of the times she had experienced it herself.

She continued to let her mind wander as she herself meandered between the young trees and park benches. Due to the land subsidence that caused the old school house to fall in the first place the space was found to be unsuitable for much else. Mai was happy with the decision because in her mind the City could always use more green space.

It was almost time for class to start and Mai was making her way towards the school when she noticed a group of boys from the baseball team chatting rambunctiously also on their way to class but some twenty meters behind her. They must have noticed her too because they had begun to speak in more hushed tones after she thought she had heard her name, which was strange to her. She had never met any of them personally and she wasn't involved in any school clubs; seeing as all of her spare time was dedicated to her thankfully still present part-time job at SPR.

All of this led to Mai keeping a pretty low profile at school which she didn't really mind. Keiko and Michiru made sure to keep her up to date on all the best school gossip during their lunch breaks while Mai copied their notes for the classes she had missed while on cases. The Baseball team was considered to be a pretty popular group of guys on campus and often ended up being the focus of a lot of the female attention. If she stopped to think about it Mai thought she could see why. With their athletic builds, easy smiles and cocky personalities some of them could pull off charming when they made the effort. She wasn't so easily won over, however. To her, it felt like they were putting on a show and it made her uneasy to see other girls in school falling over themselves to get their attention.

But now she was feeling more like the one in the spotlight all of a sudden as apposed to the fly on the wall she usually was. Doing her best not to show her awareness of them she picked up her pace on her way to the shoe room. Just as she got to her cubby and reached for her shoes someone beat her to it.

"Let me get those for you." A tall, dark eyed, messy brown haired boy wearing his baseball cap on an angle; despite the no hats inside rule, placed her shoes on the ground in front of her.

Mai blinked. "Oh, Thank you." trying not to show her confusion she quickly slipped off her outside shoes to step in her school ones, completely missing the hand being held out to offer her balance. He let it drop before she looked up again after hearing his buddies; who were observing from a distance, snicker at the unintentional snub.

" Your name is Taniyama, right? I've noticed you around school." he started to follow her further into the building. From the looks they were receiving from the other students in the hall Mai assumed he was a more well known members of the baseball team meaning he must have been a subject of one of Michiru's stories at some point.

Unsure of how she was expected to respond, Mai smiled up at him while they walked. He must not have expected her to because he carried on. "Are you coming to tonight's game? We have a real rivalry with this team, it should be good."

Having reached the stairs where they would have to part ways; for Mai's home room was on the second floor, she paused to turn and respond. "I'm sorry I won't be able to make it- Um," her questioning pause waiting for a name was met with a surprised look of indignation at the fact that she had no idea who he was.

Quickly schooling his features back into that winning smile he replied with a flourish. "Yoshida Taku, starting pitcher at your service, but _you_ can call me Taku."

"Well Taku-kun I'm afraid I have to work tonight, but good luck at your game!" Mai then gave a friendly smile and turned to head up the stairs when a hand on her arm stopped her. She turned to face a less smiley Taku in a quickly emptying hall way.

"Can't you just blow it off? I would really love to see you there." This time there was something behind his smile that Mai wasn't sure what to make of.

"Nope. Sorry, I've got bills to pay." And with that she hustled up the steps to try to beat the bell, leaving behind a confused looking Taku.

* * *

Mai made it to her seat just in time for the bell and received a hard look from her Sensei for cutting it so close. ' _Sheesh, nearly every time I leave for school early I wind up being late.'_ She then noticed the sideways glances Keiko kept shooting her and Michiru, trying to catch her eye over her shoulder whenever her teacher was facing the board. ' _And the day gets weirder…'_

The rest of class passed without incident until the bell rang for lunch. Keiko and Michiru were in front of her desk before she even had her note book closed.

"Well?!" They shouted in tandem as though it was completely obvious what they were after.

"Well what?" Mai bewilderedly asked before starting to pull out her homework. Naru was taking her to do a walk through with him on a potential case this weekend so she wanted to have a head start incase she was about to miss some more school.

"Sora-chan said she saw you and Taku-kun flirting in the hall before class!"

"Yeah! Spill Mai!" Keiko pitched in.

Mai held up her hands in defence as she flushed in embarrassment "Whoa hang on! It wasn't like that! He was just asking if I was going to tonight's Baseball game."

Michiru Gasped. Keiko asked "What did you tell him?"

"That I have to work, of course." She told them as if it were a silly question.

"Aww come on Mai he is so dreamy." Keiko swooned.

"I don't know Keiko-chan, I've heard he's a bit of a player and I am not talking about sports. Mai-chan should totally be careful if she's going to start dating a guy like Yoshida Taku."

Mai's head was spinning. "Who said anything about dating?! All he did was get my shoes down for me and talk about Baseball."

"He helped you with your shoes?! Oh he is definitely interested Mai-chan." Keiko sat facing her on the chair in front of Mai's desk.

Mai made a sceptical face as she started in on her Algebra homework.

"It's true. You know you've really matured over this last year." Michiru argued as she pulled up another seat from the next desk over.

And it was true, while Mai hadn't completely finished filling out, she had lost a bit of the baby fat in her cheeks and started to grow out some of her bangs so they weren't as thick, resulting in two locks of hair that curled in beneath her cheek bones and now nearly shoulder length hair in the front, she kept it a little shorter in the back for the ease of maintenance. This way she found it both dried and brushed out very quickly but she could also put it in a ponytail or braids if she could she had the need or the time. She had also grown another inch and developed a bit of a lean, hourglass shape from her busy lifestyle and a now decent enough cash flow to afford proper nutrition. All in all Mai had been blossoming nicely. Not that she noticed.

"Come on you guys, don't be silly. Besides, who says that I am interested?"

"Oh that's right. Mai is still dedicated to her unrequited love for her sexy boss." Keiko teased as she flicked Mai's eraser in her direction after her pencil skidded across the page. Her face beet red at the use of the word sexy in reference to her long time crush and employer.

"It's not like that," she mumbled embarrassedly "I know he's not interested and I have to move on, I'm just saying that Taku-kun just isn't my type."

Her friends looked at her softly while she kept her head bowed as she continued to fill out her work sheet, flushed cheeks and slightly depressed atmosphere firmly in place.

"Come on Mai-chan, you can't stay in here all day. Let's go have lunch in the courtyard and you can keep working there." Keiko stood and Michiru followed suit.

"Yeah it's a beautiful day outside and we could all use some fresh air."

Mai paused from her work and smiled warmly up at her friends. "Okay, let's go." Happy to have friends to help cheer her up she packed up her books and followed them out of the room.

* * *

Out in the sunlit courtyard the girls managed to find a small empty table near the centre. The three teens all pulled out their bento boxes and Mai dragged out her Math once again. They chatted cheerfully about the latest movie releases and once in a while helped Mai through some of the tougher problems on their weekend homework. She was just putting her completed work away when a shadow fell across her. Looking up she realized that it was the same group of boys from the park, headed up by none other than Taku. His face was twisted up on one side in what Mai could only describe as a very cocky smirk; it must have been contagious because most of the guys behind him had their very own version of his snarky confidence written across their own faces, while a couple around the edges were busy flashing friendly smiles at Keiko and Michiru.

"Hey Mai, have a nice lunch break?" During the last few minutes of break most of the students would congregate in the courtyard after club meetings and before class so they could use up as much social time left as possible while still being close enough to the classrooms to get there on time. It was just starting to fill up now.

"Yes, the weather has been lovely." Was Mai's pleasant reply. "Is there something you needed Taku-kun?" Some of the boys couldn't help but snicker behind their hands at her question, only causing Mai more confusion.

"I was just thinking what a bummer it was that you couldn't make it to the game tonight, I was really looking forward to seeing you outside of school." His face morphed into a more pleasant smile and looked down at her through his thick lashes. a couple girls watching their exchange swooned in the background.

"Oh, well work keeps me pretty busy so it's hard for me to find time to go out with my friends as it is." Mai rambled, feeling self conscious now that she was aware of just how many eyes were on them. She really was not used to this much attention.

"That's right, I heard that you live alone." He purred " Do you ever get scared, being all by yourself at night?"

The question made Mai scoff internally; feeling insulted by the question her temper flared, giving her a confidence boost. This guy had no idea what it would take to scare the likes of her.

She quirked her eyebrow. "Not really, No." He didn't waver.

"Thats cool. Well I was wondering since you won't be free until later, Maybe you and I could get to know each other better after the game. At your place. What do you think?" He was looking hopeful while a few of his buddies shot each other winks.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Michiru bravely stepped in.

"Yeah Mai-chan lives all by herself, remember?" Keiko timidly added. The group of them were now standing at the centre of attention of a large portion of the student body.

"Yeah I remember. That's kind of the point." He gave Mai a heated look up and down that made her feel sick to her stomach. It all made sense now. Her temper which had been awakened at the beginning of their conversation was steadily rising.

"You want to come to my place after the game tonight, and do what, exactly?" She wanted to be able to give him the benefit of the doubt but she already knew where this was going. Thrown off by the question, she could see him trying to rattle up a witty response.

"Well, I figured that after we cream those guys my shoulders will be pretty sore. Maybe we could start off with a massage and a movie and just see where the night takes us from there." Amped up by their leaders confidence his team mates jeered and chuckled while giving each other high fives and Taku's eyes never left Mai's. Now she was pissed.

"So let me get this straight." Her volume was rising. "You want me to have you over after a long day of school and making a living so that I can play your little wife?"

"Hey don't get mad babe, I'll do you after you do me." He said with a wink.

She blew her top.

"I would rather _choke_ than let that happen." She managed to say with the most venom and dirtiest look she could muster before turning her back to walk away.

"OOOOOOHHHHH" Could be heard coming from their large number of on lookers, some people were laughing. Taku grabbed Mai's wrist and jerked her back around just as the bell for the end of lunch rang and people started filing in to their classrooms chatting about what they had just witnessed.

"What did you say to me you little bitch?" He was flushed with embarrassment as he glared angrily down at her.

"You heard me you pig. Now let me go." She did her best to shake off his steadily tightening grip.

"You are going to regret that. Do you hear me?" He pulled her closer to him as if just to show her that he could, before throwing her hand away from him and roughly brushing passed her. "See you around, Taniyama." then he was gone.

Suddenly the day seemed a little darker than before.

* * *

Next: Mai's New Clothes

A/N: Sorry, I have no beta.

I like to have a few chapters done before I post because I often go back over it multiple times to make changes.

I am very open to constructive criticism because the whole point of this exercise is to improve my writing.

This story may eventually contain nudity and adult themes. Hell it already contains swearing, so the rating may be subject to change.

This story will be a canon continuation from Akumu no Sumu Ie, although I don't really know how that ends yet.

I hope you enjoy it.

I do not own Ghost Hunt.


	2. Mai's New Clothes

**Mai's New Clothes**

* * *

Once class let out Mai ran from the building as quickly as she could, hoping to avoid further incident. She was trying to turn over a new leaf and not be late for work anymore... Starting today, so she really needed to avoid all distractions. She made it all the way to SPR without any issues and hurried inside with her usual warm tidings while hustling straight into the washroom to change.

Ayako had taken her shopping recently, saying that clients would take SPR more seriously if the receptionist looked more like a receptionist instead of a school girl. While not disagreeing with her, Mai thought it was mostly because Ayako wanted an excuse to play dress up with her. She was really very grateful, it was a fun bonding experience for the two of them and Ayako bought her some more casual clothes as well. It was all very lovely clothing and nothing she could have ever considered purchasing for herself.

So Mai pulled on a black pencil skirt that went from just below her ribs to just above her knees with a slit up the back for ease of movement and a tucked in white blouse made out of a light material with cuffs and a bow on the front. She slipped on a white headband to keep her hair out of her eyes and some cute white wedges on her feet Ayako got her to 'tie the look together'.

All dressed, she quickly made her way to the kitchenette to full fill the impending order of Tea.

"Mai, Tea." Ahh, there it was.

"Coming!" she called back happily, both her new clothes and making it to work before she was due made the drama from lunch seem like a distant memory. She did feel more mature in her new outfit.

She let the water come down from its boil before adding it to the pot where she had measured out just the right amount of tea leaves of her own secret blend. Setting the timer to allow it to steep while she hummed to herself,she started a pot of coffee before putting things away and cleaning the dishes left out from earlier in the day. She poured the tea for both Naru and Lin; who had taken to accepting tea after he warmed up to her, as much as Lin warms up.

First going to Lin's door and knocking twice she waited for a sound of acknowledgement before entering.

"Here you are Lin-san. Let me know if I can get you anything else." She set down his tea, accepted his thanks and left as quickly as she came. Now it was Naru's turn.

*Knock, Knock*

"Enter." was all he said, Mai rolled her eyes before pushing open the door. Naru was a creature of habit, Mai had come to realize. There he was; just as he always was, sitting at his desk in his dark office looking over papers while the glow from his computer monitor threw his already striking features into sharp contrast. He really did look like a brooding piece of art.

"Here you go, Naru." he didn't look up when he reached over to have a sip of tea. He always had some right away so Mai made the habit of delivering his second so that it had an extra minute to cool down first.

"You are going to ruin your eyes if you keep sitting in the dark like this. It's a beautiful day outside you should let some light in." She made her way over to his blinds and turned the rod to open the shades a bit, not wanting to blind him with the change in lighting especially having not received directions to do so. "There, that's better. It's a wonder you don't get headaches."

"Who says that I don't?" he finally spoke up and it somehow felt like a dig towards her. She walked back around his desk to stand right in front of it with her serving tray in one hand and her free one in a fist on her hip.

"Well then a smart guy like you should have realized that he should be reading with better lighting." She said with her usual fire in her eyes, her hip kicked out with stubbornness. That was the moment Naru chose to finally glance at her; to undoubtably shut her down, when he paused. His expression never changed but he didn't speak like he had looked like he was about to do, and for a moment Mai wondered if he had finally short circuited. That was before she remembered her new clothes.

"Oh, is it okay? Ayako said I should dress more professionally, so-" she did a quick little twirl with a sheepish blush painted on her cheeks. "Tada!" She finished off lamely, uncomfortable with his lengthy silence.

Finally Naru took another sip of tea before speaking.

"You can't dress like that for cases."

"I know, I have different clothes for cases than for the office. She kind of got carried away, I didn't think my clothes were _that_ bad. I guess some things were getting to be too small." She admitted with an even deeper blush. This conversation was more personal than she would like. Though to be fair she was the one doing all the talking. ' _How does he do that to me?'_ she couldn't help but wonder as she desperately tried to curb her nervous babble. Lucky for her she was saved by the ringing of the bell on front door, quickly followed by loud voices. It was probably just the Irregulars paying their usual end of the week visit; not unlike their beginning of the week visit, but she needed a way out of this unexpectedly awkward situation.

"Oh I better go and greet whoever that is, just shout if you need me." _'Shut up Mai, shut up!'_ She mentally berated herself as she spun and made her way out of his office, firmly closing the door behind her and sighing with relief. What was that all about?

* * *

Back inside the office, Naru sat behind his desk with his hand over his eyes. _'You can't dress like that for cases? That was the best I could come up with?'_ Naru was still in shock after seeing more of his assistant's figure than he had been mentally prepared for and it resulted in knocking the smart-aleck response he had ready to tease her with; something about her admitting how smart he is, right out of his brain. He continued to sip at his tea while he thought.

These last few weeks since his return to Japan have been harder than he'd expected. It wasn't him she wanted. When he learned that it was Gene all along who had made her smile he was unexpectedly heart broken. Of course it was unexpected, the first girl to have caught his interest, ever, and she had fallen in love with his already deceased twin brother. It figures, his life was a road full of cruel and unusual twists and turns. Why would this be any different?

He came back to Japan because he had grown to love his lifestyle there. Plus being in London only made Gene's absence from his life all the more prominent. England is where they lived together. Naru's Japanese life only ever had Gene in his mirror… and his assistant's dreams. Working out of Japan gave him a sense of freedom that was helping him to cope with his loss, and he would never admit it out loud but his new acquaintances provided an often entertaining distraction. Especially one in particular. She always said the most resonant thing, it was as if she was looking right through him without even realizing it, endearing herself to him with every kind hearted gesture, every resilient smile and every eerily insightful remark.

Not to mention Mai was exhibiting signs of some rapidly developing abilities that; if left unchecked, could easily result in the loss of her life. He worried endlessly about her while he was away. It was the reason he had sent Madoka back early to keep the office open until he was able to return. An Astral Projector is capable of leaving their body behind. If they can't find their way back again their heart could stop. He had potentially just forced her only spirit guide to move on, what if she couldn't find her way and no one knew what was wrong? It made his insomnia ten times worse and cause his parents to worry about his mental health. But their first case together after his return had lead to some troubling realizations. Mai was a bottomless pit of wonders and anomalies and some of those mysteries were tied to his twin and himself. He had yet to discuss any of this with her because he didn't want to scare her and wasn't willing to breach the subject without having a plan of action lined up.

Realizing he was letting his thoughts wander he got back to the problem on hand: Mai's new clothes. A subject he has never really visited before; except for the occasional unintentional panty flash he had received and would mention to no one, _ever_. But now that he thought back on it, her wardrobe was mostly a collection of what she had owned in middle school and whatever hand-me-downs she could get her hands on. This resulted in a hodgepodge of ill fitting childish clothing that he had never thought of as anything but appropriate for her youthful optimism. Maybe not for an office environment but for Mai herself who was anything but co-ordinated. That being said her new office attire ended up being a pleasant surprise. Previously the most formal attire she wore to work had been her school uniform.

Unfortunately for him Mai was maturing beautifully. It was torture. Not only did he himself have to pretend not to see it, he also had to watch the rest of the male population take notice. She was going to be the death of him. He can't make a habit of forgetting himself in her presence, it was time for a new copeing strategy. In order to act natural he had to be ready to expect womanly curves and feminine charm when it came to Mai. While he was ready to accept the new norm it came with new worries. Mai didn't live in a great neighbourhood. She was a single teenager working a part time job to support herself in the city of Tokyo. Really it was a miracle she hadn't disappeared already. Pretty young women with no family ties and too much naïvety were easy pickings for human traffickers. What had kept his danger prone employee out of trouble this long was a mystery. Maybe her heightened animal instincts managed to keep her out of harms way. Regardless she wasn't going to slip under the radar forever.

Speaking of the unavoidable, Naru was out of tea and decided he should surface for a while to rile up his assistant and save face. Maybe they could establish a sense of normality after their recent awkward exchange. One thing was certain, their relationship was not something he was willing to give up. He would settle for their friendly working relationship if it was all he could get. Nothing compared to the feeling he received when he was in her presence. He wouldn't trade it for anything, they made a good team.

Stealing himself for round two plus spectators, Naru opened his door and joined the others in the common area.

* * *

Seeing who it was that was visiting Mai greeted everyone before scurrying off to prepare Bou-san, Ayako and Yasu their preferred drinks.

"Was that really Jou-chan?" A pale Monk finally asked once Mai was in the kitchen.

"You bet your beads it was. What did you think? do I work magic or what?" Ayako gloated as she took a seat in her favourite spot on the couch.

"That was your doing was it? Nice work. I wonder how Big Boss feels about it." Yasuhara shared a smirk with her as he settled himself down at his desk, ready to start the researching Naru had set out for him to do. He was happy to be a permanent member of the Ghost Hunting team, He had quickly become attached to the odd group whom had saved his school from certain disaster.

"Rattled I'm sure. I don't know if I approve myself." Takigawa settled in next to Ayako on the couch, taking up more space than he needed too, still looking a little disturbed by the grown up appearance of what he considered to be his adoptive little sister.

"What are you talking about? That is appropriate office attire. I didn't get her anything scandalous, just some clothes that fit for a change." Mai's wardrobe had always bothered Ayako the most. This is when Mai returned with everyones beverages.

"I had no idea my new clothes would be such a hot topic for discussion." Mai piped as she handed out an iced coffee, oolong tea and coffee, having heard the tail end of their discussion upon reentering the room. The others perked up at her statement.

"Oh? Am I to infer that someone else found your new clothes interesting enough to discuss Mai-chan?" Yasu asked while adjusting his glasses. The monk and miko leaned in, eager to hear her response. Mai sifted through her in-box distractedly, unaware of their intense focus.

"Oh I wouldn't say it was a discussion. Naru was just concerned that I would try to wear something similar on cases."

"I bet he was." Bou-san muttered just loud enough for Ayako to hear who coughed to cover up her laughter.

"Well did you tell him we got clothes specifically for cases as well?" Ayako continue to engage Mai as she started in on her filing. A distracted Mai was easier to get information out of.

"Yeah I told him." Mai responded casually. Not as informative as she had hoped.

"Did Naru-chan have any other concerns Jou-chan?" Bou-san with the assist.

"Yes, he was concerned that certain individuals may mistake his office for a coffee shop." Prying denied by none other than Naru himself. He had obviously entered just in time to keep this conversation from getting out of hand. One thing he noticed about his Japanese SPR team is that they easily went off the rails.

"Did you need something Naru?" Mai had instantly snapped to attention once she realized her boss was present.

"More Tea, Mai." Long over her need for please and thank you; unless she was already in a temper, Mai retrieved his cup from him and went back to the kitchen for the third time in the last hour.

"So what's new Naru-bou? Have any potential cases for us?" Bou-san did his best to redirect the conversation in hopes of avoiding being kicked out.

"Mai and I will be doing a preliminary walk through at a clients place of business tomorrow morning. I do not anticipate it to be a large enough case to require any of your services, if anything at all." Ayako and Bou-san looked put out by his announcement.

"Tell them what kind of a business it is Big Boss." Yasu chipped in innocently. The two Irregulars turned back to the Dark teenager expectantly. Naru complied despite finding the information irrelevant to those who would not be involved. He had learned to choose his battles when it came to this crowd.

"Its a florist." He stated simply as Mai returned with his fresh cup of tea.

"Ohh a flower shop! How exciting!" The ever enthusiastic Mai bubbled with a smile while handing Naru his tea. Once delivered, she gave him an even bigger smile while tucking a stray hair behind her ear. That's when something caught his eye. His cup; which had been half way to his mouth, was set back in its saucer and placed on her desk beside which he was standing.

"Mai, give me your hand." The command peeked everyones interest as they watched the exchange carefully. Startled and confused by the request, Mai complied without question, holding out her right hand.

"No, your other hand, dummy." Now with a furrowed brow due to the insult, (How was she to know what hand he wanted?) Mai held out her left hand with a bit more attitude than before. Naru gently gripped her palm in one hand to turn it over and smoothly pushed up her sleeve with the other, revealing a large, fresh, hand shaped bruise wrapped around her delicate wrist.

His hold on her tightened slightly at the sight of it while his face remained expressionless. Ayako and Bou-san had stood up to get a better look at what had made Yasu's expression darken the way it had and gasped.

"What is this?" Naru questioned with a calm he did not feel.

"Mai why didn't you say something?" Asked an indignant Ayako.

"About what? I didn't even realize it was there." She defended, trying to retrieve her hand from her employers grip who resisted her at first before slowly allowing her to slip away.

"Do you posses the mental capacity to even remember how it got there?" Was Naru's condescending reply. An angry Mai was an honest Mai.

"Of course I do Narcissist! A boy from school did it!" she shot back fiercely.

"And why would he do a thing like that?" Asked a very angry Monk. Noticing the expressions of her co-workers, Mai realized that they were taking this as a serious offence.

"Um, well, I may have embarrassed him in front of almost half the school's population." She continued a little sheepishly, not wanting to enrage her friends any further.

"How did you manage that Mai-chan?" Yasu asked more kindly. She wasn't likely to give anything else up if she thought they were getting too upset. Mai was obviously reluctant to continue anyway as she searched each of their faces with an uneasy expression.

"Mai-" Naru began with a threatening tone, managing to spur her into responding.

"It wasn't a big deal, really. The creep wanted to come over to my place tonight and I told him 'no'… just maybe not as politely as I should have." She finished off lamely with a blush.

"What's his name?" Naru's question was meant to come off as nonchalant but ended up sounding much more menacing than he had hoped.

"Naru! I'm serious, its fine. I can look after myself. The guy is all talk anyway." Mai returned to her filing as though to say the conversation was closed. Something about her final statement didn't sit well with the rest of the room but they let the matter drop for now.

* * *

 **Next** : Mai's Apartment

A/N: Thank you to those of you who reviewed. I am posting this chapter earlier than I intended because I wanted to let more SPR characters make an appearance.

Let me know what you think.

I don't own Ghost Hunt

S


	3. Mai's Apartment

**Mai's Apartment.**

* * *

Hours had passed and Bou-san and Ayako had left, (together, Mai had noticed) and closing time was approaching. Naru surfaced from his office briefly to address his part time researcher.

"Yasuhara-san, come by my office when you have a moment." Was all he said before disappearing again behind his door. _'Curious'_ Yasu thought. Seeing as he was the only one in the room at the time of the request he had no one with which to speculate on what the boss might have in mind for him. Usually the only one to receive invitations into his office was Mai. She was conveniently retrieving files from Lin when Naru had made his appearance.

 _'Well, no time like the present.'_ The Todai student rapped on the door twice with the back of his hand before entering and closing the door behind him as he was used to seeing Mai do.

"What can I do for you Big Boss?" Naru had clearly been waiting for him seeing as there was no work out on his desk.

"I need you to escort Mai home this evening, I will be dismissing you both early tonight." Yasuhara didn't show it but he found this request _very_ interesting. Time to have some fun.

"Sure thing boss. May I ask what brings on this request?" the same benign smile on his face as always. Naru was not buying it.

"Can you really not figure that out for yourself?" His tone dripping with scorn. Yasu thought the response to be overly defensive.

"I can think of a couple good reasons to escort Mai home after work, I was just wondering what yours were." he responded placidly. Naru narrowed his eyes.

"I want to make sure she gets behind her locked apartment door without any unwanted encounters." he said this as though it should have been obvious and considering what she had told them this afternoon, Yasu supposed that it was.

"Of course, the only thing is I don't know if I would be of much help if I had to defend her. I've never thrown a punch in my life." He adjusted his glasses and just kept smiling. "My wars are won with words."

"She doesn't seem to be expecting any trouble," This statement was heavy with subtext eluding to Mai's uncanny instincts. "I just want you to see that she gets there and make note of anyone paying her too much attention." Sounds like a simple enough request, there was just one more thing.

"Do you think she is going to be okay with this?" It was true that Mai often reacted adversely to what she called them 'babying her'. This felt like it could be one of those moments. Even still none of them had actually been to her door before. The closest anyone got was to the edge of her building district.

"I will deal with it." Was all he said before rising from his seat and leading the way out of the office. Mai had her back to them and was wiggling a little dance and humming quietly to herself while putting away the last of the files that Lin had used through the day.

"Once you have finished filing those away you can gather up your things. Yasuhara-san will be walking you home tonight." So that was his plan. _'Very direct, Big boss.'_ Yasu couldn't help but shoot him a sideways glance. Mai's body froze.

"What? Why would he do that?" She blinked owlishly at them as she tried to understand the situation. Naru became frustrated.

"Well it sounds to me like someone didn't like having his plans to come over cancelled. It would be best if you did not go by yourself. I need you to be here with whatever you will need for the day by 7am tomorrow Mai. Is that clear?" He said all this very evenly while never breaking eye contact with her. She on the other hand floundered.

"A-Wha-, Yes I will be here, but Naru I don't need anyone to walk me home. I have been walking home by myself for years now and I told you that guy isn't going to try anything. Don't make Yasu go out of his way." The man in question took this as an opportunity to step in.

"It really isn't a bother Mai-chan, it is a beautiful evening for a walk." Yasu flashed her a sincere smile before heading over to his desk to pack up his laptop. Mai still looked like she was about to argue.

"This really isn't open for discussion Mai so I suggest you get your coat. Yasu will be ready to go soon and you don't want to inconvenience him." Naru turned away as though the discussion was over but Mai didn't want to let him have the last word so she said whatever came to mind.

"I didn't bring a coat Naru so all I need is my bag." It was all she could come back with but she still said it in a 'so there' manner. Naru turned back to look at her over his shoulder just as he was about to re-enter his office.

"It's night time Mai and you didn't bring a coat? Are you so stupid that you couldn't think far enough in advance to realize what the conditions would be like when you had to leave?" He slowly turned back towards her while he said all this with a steadily darkening tone and furrowing brow. Mai's face shifted through a wide array of emotions starting with confusion turning to hurt and finally settling on indignant anger.

"It was a nice day and I have walked home at night without a coat many times before and I always manage just fine!" she grabbed her bag and stomped over to the door. Usually she would make her boss one more cup of tea before she left but not if he was going to act like that, the jerk. Why did he care so much if she had a jacket or not? Yasu hurried to follow after her shouting a good night to the two left behind while Mai huffed as she threw her boss one more dirty look before marching out of the office.

* * *

"Mai slow down!" Yasu hustled to catch up with her as she stomped down the street. She stopped and let him catch up to her.

"Sorry Yasu, he just makes me so mad!" She flushed with anger again at the thought and puffed up her cheeks in frustration. they continued on their way to the train station at a more reasonable pace. "What's the big deal about jacket anyway." She said the last part more to herself. She didn't see Yasu look down at her thoughtfully.

"Big Boss just worries about you Mai-chan. That's all. He just isn't very good at showing it." He explained as they reached the station and waited for the next train to pull up. Mai kept her eyes down cast and scuffed the bottom of her shoe along the ground while she fiddled with the straps of her now out of place back pack. It really didn't go with the office attire, not that Mai cared.

"Well he doesn't have to be so mean about it. Besides I am an independent woman, I can handle myself." She finished off in a power stance making Yasu give a hearty laugh.

"And we are all aware of that, but understand that it can be distressing for us to see that someone has managed to bring you harm- No matter how insignificant the damage." He finish clearly when it looked like Mai was about to angrily interrupt. "You would feel the same way if it was one of us that turned up with bruises." Mai appeared to be thinking about what he said as they boarded their train. Luckily it wasn't too crowded because it was after rush hour so they both found seats near one of the exits where they proceeded to sit in silence. It was clear to Yasu when she was finally seeing things their way because of the sad expression that was slowly blossoming on her face.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She eventually conceded in a small voice. He knew her caring nature was his best chance at a win but he didn't want to make her sad.

"Your new clothes do look very nice by the way. I think that's why Naru was so worried about you not having a coat. you are a bit of a danger magnet as it is, it doesn't help to be walking around alone at night in such form-fitting clothing.-" They had arrived at Mai's stop and stepped off the train and turned toward her district. The atmosphere was significantly darker than that of Shibuya square. "Especially in a neighbourhood like this. Mai-chan surely you can afford something better?" He looked around at the dirty buildings and their hive like construction, designed to hold as many people in as small a space as possible. Mai still had a faint flush from his compliment when she answered his question.

"I could probably afford a better room but I would still be living in the same area. It is the cheapest area this close to both work and school. I still hope to go to college so I have to be thrifty. Tuition isn't cheap, as you already know." And Yasuhara did know, he was still in his first semester at Tokyo University; or Todai, as it was fondly known as. But his father is a Tech Executive who makes big coin and his mother was a stay at home mom. Yasu rarely had to worry about his own lunch never mind paying his own tuition. He found it easy to forget that Mai was on her own; with her sunny and well adjusted personality, sometimes you would think she didn't have a care in the world. The part-time researcher did his best to think of her when he found himself complaining about having too much on his plate. It helped to keep things in perspective.

"Well Mai-chan if you keep studying hard maybe you could get a scholarship." They had stopped in front of one of the concrete residential buildings with no balconies and rust stains running down the walls from the corners of some of the windows. Mai seemed like she was ready to send him on his way and while he had not spotted anything suspicious on their way here, Yasuhara had promised his boss that he would see Mai right to her door. This building had no entrance security so anyone could just waltz in.

"Thank you for walking me home Yasu. I'm sorry you had to go to the trouble."

"I'm sorry Mai-chan, but I promised Big boss that I would see you right to your door." It looked like Mai was about to argue. "There is no point in fighting it, I'm just going to follow you in anyway. I am more afraid of Naru than I am of you."

"Fine but you can't come in, my place is a mess right now. Saturday mornings are usually my tidy up time." Reluctantly she headed inside with the College student trailing behind her. They made their way through the littered entry hall to a set of stairs at the back and started to climb. The deeper into the building they went the more concerned Yasu became. Someone like Mai should not be living in a place like this. Half the fluorescent bulbs were burnt out or buzzing dimly and there was graffiti on the walls. Some of the landings had leaks in the ceiling that left stains on the walls and puddles on the floor. Mai left the stairwell once they made it to the fifth floor and started down an equally dim hallway that smelled strongly of must and cigarettes. She finally came to a stop in front of a door with the number 511 on it.

"See? Home safe and sound. I _told_ Naru nothing would happen. *Tsk* Another perfectly good 'I told-you-so' moment gone to waste. I'll get him one of these days." Mai giggled feebly as she fumbled for her keys. " Goodnight Yasu, I will see you at work on Monday. Okay?" She smiled at him over her shoulder with her keys in the door. Noticing her unease Yasu began to walk backwards down the hall towards the stairs.

"Goodnight Mai-chan, thanks for your co-operation!" He waved cheerfully as he watched her smile and wave back before finally disappearing behind her door with a click. Yasu dropped both his wave and his cheerful expression as he turned around. While they always assumed she lived modestly, none of them really _knew_ about Mai's living conditions. No one talked about their home life and whenever they met up it would be either at the office, a public place or on a case. He continued his walk down the hall and listened to the sounds of the building's many residents; a loudly arguing couple, Television sets and the most unsetting, heart felt sobs. A sinking feeling in his gut told him that the others were not going to like this information. But all of this was on the outside, for all he knew there could be a beautiful apartment behind that door. While he was extremely doubtful he wanted to make sure he had his facts straight. If only she had allowed him to have a peak inside.

He was already down the first flight of stairs when he had an idea. Dipping out of the stairwell onto the fourth floor he made his way to room 411, the apartment directly beneath Mai's. Most concrete buildings like this one would have the same floor plan all the way down to the bottom floor. Maybe he could at least get a glimpse of what kind of space she was working with. He confidently knocked on the strangers door and patiently waited.

"Whadya want?" The door was answered by a balding middle-aged man with a beer belly, dressed in a dirty undershirt and a pair of slacks. Yasu made a point of looking puzzled and searching the room behind the man with his eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, Yumi-chan doesn't happen to live hear does she?" He managed to sound hopeful while once more scanning the room. And a room was all it was. there was a bed up against one wall and a TV on a set of shelves against the opposite. One corner had what could be described as a kitchenette complete with a tiny refrigerator, hot plate and sink. The other back corner had a small door that must have led to a washroom of sorts. There was only one tiny window to speak of that looked out at the bare wall of the too close building next-door. There was a pile of extra beer cans next to the single armchair in the centre of the room facing the blaring television set. It was obvious that there was no one else in the room.

"Huh? Get out of here kid." was all the man said before taking another swig of beer and slamming the door in his face. Which was fine with him seeing as he got what he wanted; a general floor plan for Mai's apartment. He decided that he would file this information away, as he quickly made his way out of the depressing building.

Mai would not appreciate him meddling in her affairs but if he felt that she was at risk, he would make sure that at least Naru was aware of the situation. He knew that if Big boss _had_ a soft spot, it would be Mai. She was the only one who could inspire a reaction other than cold indifference from the man and anyone could tell that he enjoyed teasing her. For someone as undemonstrative as Naru it was a pretty big tell about his true feelings. ' _Yup'_ , Yasuhara thought to himself as he made his way through the night. _'Big Boss has got it bad_.'

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Roses**

 **A/N:** So here is my Hallowe'en gift to those of you who appreciate it! Please be safe and remember to go all out on your costumes!

I will not post another chapter until I have finished writing the case in its entirety, which hopefully won't take too long.

Is everyone staying in character so far? I know we are getting to see Naru's point of view which doesn't follow the original format but I like to know what he is thinking. Let me know what _you_ think.

I do not own Ghost Hunt.

 **S**


	4. Roses

**Roses**

* * *

*Beep Beep Beep Beep..*

Mai groaned while rolling over to blindly smack around her night stand, trying to turn off her alarm without having to open her eyes. She had to be at work early today so she had stayed up late the night before to get her place all tidied up before the weekend.

She felt bad for not inviting Yasu in for some tea last night but she was a little self-conscious of her tiny apartment. She didn't want him to even come in the building but it was better that it was him walking her home and not Bou-san or Ayako, she had the feeling they would have been far more judgmental. Mai enjoyed her freedom and didn't mind having to make some sacrifices to hold on to it. If she was forced into an orphanage or a foster home at this point she didn't think she would be able to cope with the change, it would be a huge step backwards as far as she was concerned. Sure, things were lonely all by herself but she fully intended on having a family of her own one day and things would be different then. For now her Ghost Hunting family was serving as a suitable substitute but ever since they found Gene's body and Naru announced that he would be closing the office she realized that it might be damaging to get too attached to that idea. People come and go and she had come to terms with that.

After finally managing to shut off her alarm and willing herself to stay awake, Mai lay in bed thinking about the dream she'd had. It was vague this time and filled her with the feeling of almost crippling heartache; something she could easily identify with, but the images she could remember were fuzzy. She remembered a bouquet of red roses and rainy weather. The flowers made her think that the dream could have something to do with the case that her and Naru were taking on today.

Thinking about this weekend caused her face to heat up and her heart to race, finally giving her the energy to open her eyes. This case they were checking out was just going to be the two of them. They had not spent much time alone since his return to Japan and she was both excited and nervous to do so. These nerves kicked her into action. It would not do to start the case by being late, it would sour his mood towards her for the rest of the day.

All showered and dried Mai pulled out another new set of clothes. This one consisted of a pair of skinny black jeans and a fitted lavender sweater that had pretty little buttons that went over her collar bones and up her neck. She grabbed her black messenger bag that she had packed the night before with everything she would need. She put on a little mascara as an after thought and stomped on some shoes (nothing with heels incase she had to run) and headed out the door with her keys in hand by 6:30.

* * *

Mai strolled into work around 6:50 AM having made good time, and gave a cheerful hello to the two closed office doors she knew to be hiding her Boss and co-worker. Tea was an obvious first step to the start of every shift so she got right to it, filling the kettle to put of the burner and getting out her measuring spoons for her special Naru blend. She didn't always make him the same tea; while usually sticking to the same base sometimes she would add lemon and ginger if he had a cold or camomile if it was late and he had bags under his eyes (that he somehow still managed to make look good) generally she would just go with what her gut told her and she had never had any complaints. Just demands for more.

Once the kettle was boiled and the tea pot filled she set the timer and went to retrieve his cup before pausing and grabbing a travel thermos too. They were probably going to be leaving soon and he was sure to want at the very least three cups of tea before the morning was over. She also filled a sandwich baggie with some more loose leaf tea and fillable tea bags to put in her bag incase they would need it.

She hummed happily while carrying out the tray with three cups of tea on it, delivering Lin's first before knocking on her bosses door. Their argument from the night before far from her mind.

"Enter."

Not phased by the lack lustre greeting she did as he said while flashing him a happy grin.

"Good morning Naru! Are you all ready for our case?" placing his tea in front of him. He had been watching her the whole time, sitting back in his chair.

"Of course I am Mai. Who in this room is the more likely candidate for being unprepared?" Naru raised a graceful eyebrow and gestured to the seat on the other side of his desk, asking her to sit down. Mai rolled her eyes as she sat down with her own cup of tea.

"Well obviously it wouldn't be someone as brilliant as you." She replied sarcastically before giving a cheeky smile and sipping her tea. The corner of his mouth quirked up an almost unnoticeable amount before responding.

"Now you are starting to get it." Mai whispered 'Narcissist' into her cup while glancing at him through her lashes, but he continued on as though he didn't hear her. "You may remember from yesterday that our new client is a Florist. Do you happen to know anything else about it?" Mai found this to be an odd question. Why would she know more than he had already told her? Her puzzlement must have showed on her face because Naru's expression was making the subtle shift into his 'Are you stupid?' face.

"Are you asking if I've had any dreams?"

"I am asking if you have happened upon any applicable data, no matter the source."

"Well you could have just said that, Jerk. I did have a dream but it was weak. I remember something about roses and rain. There were also some strong emotions attached to it." Naru looked to be thinking this information over while he sipped his tea.

"What kind of emotions?" She hoped he wouldn't make her say it.

"Love and Heartbreak." Clear and concise with minimal blushing, good work Mai. But clinical as always Naru didn't seem to see the irony and continued to stare at her until his eyes glazed over and he seemed to be looking right throughout her.

"Interesting." Was all he had to say apparently as he continued to absently sip at his tea. Mai had to ask.

" _What's_ interesting?" She leaned forward a bit. Naru seemed to come back to Earth and was focused on her once again. He put down his tea.

"What's _interesting_ is that with only the vague knowledge of where the case was going to take place, you still managed to sync up well enough with the situation to retrieve potentially relevant information." He was giving her an appraising look threw narrowed eyes framed in thick dark lashes. Mai's face was starting to grow warm under the scrutiny.

"Well we don't know for sure that it's relevant yet. And how did you know to ask me that?" Her attempt to change the subject seemed to back fire.

"The client is complaining about vanishing roses, Mai. I knew I would have to ask because you constantly neglect to divulge important information." He briefly hesitated before continuing. "Steadily with every case your abilities have been increasing in both sensitivity and strength. I have decided that we should be monitoring the situation more closely." He drank the last sip from his cup and stood up. "It's time to go. Get your things, we are taking the van." Mai was a little startled by the abruptness of the end of the conversation and blinked up at him a couple times before glancing down at her half finished, cooling tea still held between her hands and around at her tray and his cup before springing into action to make up for her slow on the uptake reaction to his instructions. She quickly put away the tray and cups before putting the thermos in her bag while Naru held the door open, waiting for her to pass through it.

"Ne, Naru, did you get your licence?" She asked this over her shoulder as they made their was down the stairs. Which for Mai, is obviously a bad idea as she managed to slip off her step and started to fall backwards up the steps because of her shifted weight. She managed to only release a small squeak of alarm as she started to fall before Naru was beside her with an arm around her shoulders and a hand holding hers, keeping her up-right and continuing their forward progress the rest of the way to the bottom of the staircase where he released her.

"I know I'm good looking Mai but that doesn't mean you have to fall all over yourself. And yes, I got it shortly after my return. Now try to stay on your feet and keep up." With that he led the way to the parking garage across the street. Mai had stopped walking at his words as her embarrassed flush turned into an enraged one and was falling behind. She scurried to catch up so that she wouldn't miss the cross walk and slowed down once she reached his side to shoot him a sharp glare.

"Narcissist. We will see if you're any good at driving. I've never even been in the van without Lin-san driving it. Does he know you are taking it?"

"You are forgetting whom that vehicle actually belongs to. Keep your eyes ahead Mai you remember what happened the last time you stopped looking where you were going. I can't be there to catch you every time." The jab was obviously an attempt to rile her up again but instead Mai suddenly sobered and cast her eyes away.

"Yeah, I know." Was her only response. Her morose tone and completely unanticipated response caused Naru to look over at her downcast face. Suddenly his exceedingly sharp perception picked up on the extra weight to his words and mentally kicked himself. He clicked the unlock button to the van as it came into view.

"I think you will find; without much surprise, that I am an excellent driver." He held open the passenger door for her as a form of apology. "Now get in." Didn't want to seem too sorry for his words though, that would be like admitting fault. One of Naru's least favourite things to have to do. It seemed to do the trick anyway as she smiled while hopping in. Naru smirked as he shut her door and made his way around the vehicle to the drivers side. That girl bounced back better than a rubber ball, he always admired that about her.

The engine roared to life once they were both buckled up then Naru pulled out of their parking spot and drove out into the street, using the same perfect grace with which he did everything. Mai swallowed her envy of his seemingly limitless grace for what must have been the thousandth time since she'd met the guy.

Mai considered their conversation in his office. What did he mean by 'monitoring the situation more closely'? Just what exactly would that involve? She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of being monitored at all. Lately Mai had been more adamant about asserting her independence. She did not want to rely on her friends being there to hold her life together, that wasn't fair to them. If and when Naru decides to return to England for good she will have to be prepared to find another job to support her and she was not naive enough to think that all jobs were as cushy and well paying as this one. No, she knew she was spoiled and was eternally grateful to Naru for having provided her with this opportunity, he really did save her in more ways than one. Thinking about it made her cheeks grow warm so she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, hoping he hadn't noticed. No such luck. He was already sporting a smug smirk that made her want to pinch him.

"It's just a mode of transportation Mai, nothing to get excited about." This made Mai go beet red and sputter indignantly.

"Naru! You Jerk I am _not-_ " But a glance at his face made her pause. He was almost wearing a smile. That smirk he had been wearing earlier had subtly shifted into something genuinely amused. It transformed his whole face and made Mai's insides twist, she did not want to break the spell so she just let out a grunt of frustration and looked back out at the road in front of them. "Just shut up and drive, Narcissist." she glanced sideways at him once more to make sure the expression was still present and was pleased to find that it was. It warmed her heart to know that he was still comfortable enough around her to want to push her buttons. She had been afraid that her confession and his rejection of it would permanently damage their repertoire. The relief she felt at realizing that this was not the case was almost overwhelming. It made her wonder, at what point did she stop hating his teasing remarks and start craving them?

The rest of the drive went by in a comfortable silence. The drive to the flower shop was not a very long one and Mai found she wished they could have stayed that way for just a while longer. Her imagination let her think that just maybe; based on Naru's heavy sigh when he put the vehicle in park, he felt the same way.

Leaving the equipment in the van for now they went to introduce themselves to their clients. Since it was only shortly after eight AM the shop still had its closed sign in place although there were obvious signs of life coming from inside. Mai knocked politely on the glass door while Naru stood behind her; waiting patiently with his hand that was not already holding his note book, resting in his pocket.

A motherly looking woman glanced up from her work behind the counter and bustled her way over to let them in.

"Good morning! Good morning! please come in." She greeted them warmly as the bell on the front door that she was holding open for them jingled.

"Tanaka-san this is my associate Taniyama Mai, she will be taking part in the investigation." Mai bowed and tried not to show how pleased she was at being introduced as an associate instead of as an assistant. She knew that she had been promoted to Investigator but since her duties had remained mostly the same she thought the promotion had been in pay and title only. The teen psychic was going to do her best to prove that she had earned it.

"You can call me Mai." Giving the nice woman her usual friendly smile only to have it reflected right back at her.

"How nice! Well you can call me Sakura. Please come in, we don't open until nine so we have sometime to talk about our problem before it is business as usual in here. Come, follow me to the back." Since Naru got to skip the introductions, she assumed that Sakura had been the one to come to them with the case.

Behind the swinging wood door at the back of the shop was a room full of flower coolers brimming with vibrant, exotic looking flowers and a couple of arrangement tables surrounded by different ribbons and coloured wrapping papers. The abundance of colour made Mai's eyes go wide with wonder as she looked around with steadily increasing glee.

Naru took a moment to watch his junior investigator's enchanted wanderings with a mix of exasperation and fondness that wasn't visible through his stoic facade to the untrained eye. The moment didn't last long before he got down to business.

"Please tell us again in detail what your experience has been." Naru deadpanned just loud enough for Mai to pick up from where she had wandered off across the room while whipping out his ever present note book and pen.

Mai snapped back to reality and suppressed the urge to skip while hurrying back to his side. She had her own note book to take notes in. Her employer had insisted she have her own references to look back on if she was going to be an investigator. She found the practice actually helped her remember key points of the case without even having to check them.

"Well it all started few years ago when-" Naru cut her off without even glancing up from his notes.

"Could you try to remember exactly just how long ago it was that the activity began? This information could be integral to the investigation." The nice shop keeper seemed a little startled and shared a glance with Mai who gave the woman an encouraging smile to make up for her employers abrupt demeanour. Sakura took a moment to ponder over the question.

"Well, it must have been five years ago when the first roses started to disappear, but at the time I thought that I must have been imagining it, because it would only be a couple at a time. As time went by the number of roses going missing steadily increased, as well as the frequency with which they were doing so. We installed security cameras without telling our staff to see if we could catch the culprit red handed. You see, there was never any sign of forced entry so we thought that maybe it was one of our employees. But once we finally did get footage of the roses…" At this point Sakura had trailed off looking uncertain. Obviously what she had caught on film had brought her grip on reality into question.

"What happened to them Sakura-san? Do you still have the recordings?" Mai was intrigued and hadn't waited for Naru to continue his interrogation. It was clear that whatever they had caught on camera had been what caused her to seek them out.

"I do, would you like to see it?" She seemed grateful to not have to try and put it into words. Mai had come to associate that kind of reluctance with the paranormal. An average citizen has a very hard time accepting what they've seen, never mind trying to explain it to others.

"We would! If you don't mind." Mai responded brightly, not paying any mind to her silent boss. She was sure that the visual evidence would have peaked his interest as well.

Tanaka Sakura led them to a small door that Mai had mistaken for a closet. Inside, it was clear that it was once a supply closet but had been transformed into a tiny office with a desk, chair and cabinet. The store owner made her way passed the minimalist furniture to open the cabinet that contained two monitors and an old VHS player. One monitor had an angular view of the front room of the shop and the front counter while the other was pointed directly at the flower cooler containing most of the roses.

"Like I said before only a couple of roses would disappear in the beginning and it would only be once every couple of months or so, but as time has gone by we now lose over a hundred roses every other Saturday night." Sounding over whelmed she pulled a tape out of one of the desk drawers.

"This recording I am about to show you is from two weeks ago." She put the tape in the machine and pressed play after switching over the feed from the monitor that focussed on the rose cooler. She fast forwarded the tape from that day to three hours after the last person left the room and the lights had been dimmed. The time in the bottom right hand corner of the screen read 20:54 making it almost 9 in the evening when suddenly, as if rustled by a gust of wind the flowers in the centre cooler briefly trembled as one before going still once more. It seemed like that would be it when Mai noticed it; still without the door ever opening, slowly one by one the roses were fading from sight. They watched in silence as the last of what must have been over a hundred roses vanish leaving what appeared to be only a few behind.

"Is it always roses Sakura-san?" Mai asked after it seemed like the disappearing act had wrapped up.

"Only Roses." She confirmed. "Although if some roses have been prearranged in a bouquet for a special order or quick pick-ups they stay where they are."

"So the only roses disappearing are the ones who do not already have a predetermined purpose." Naru finally spoke up with what was more of a statement than a question.

"That's right." She validated his observation anyway and Naru held his chin for a brief moment of pondering before questioning her once more.

"Have any of your staff worked here for longer than five years?"

"Yes, Tsukiko-chan started here around then and Jin-san has been our delivery man for over a decade now."

"Are either of them scheduled to work today?"

"Oh goodness yes. Saturday is our busiest day of the week. Tsukiko-chan will be here around noon and doesn't leave until after close. She is one of our arrangers so you will be able to find her in the back room at any time but Jin-san will be coming and going all day."

"Thank you for sharing you recording with us Sakura-san. Do you think we could keep a couple of your security tapes with the disappearances on them for our records? We are a Research Team after all and it would be nice to be able to show the progression of the activity." Mai smiled sweetly along with her humble request turning the store owner to butter.

"Why of course you can Mai-chan! I am just so grateful that you were willing to help me on such short notice. You can keep this one we just watched and I will retrieve you one of the early tapes." She gave Mai a big smile and turned to leave the room before being stopped by Naru.

"We would like to set up two of our own cameras for the rest of the investigation. We have infrared cameras and an opportunity to get a better picture of what we're dealing with. Based on what you've told us we can expect more roses to vanish tonight, correct?" He asked all of this in monotone.

"That's right. Hopefully for the last time! Please, whatever it is you need to do, feel free to do it, as long as it doesn't interfere with our customers." She smiled up at them before bowing herself out of the room. Naru turned to observe Mai as she made a few notes with the tip of her tongue just barely showing at the corner of her mouth.

"You requested copies of her footage." Although it wasn't stated as a question but as more of an observation, Mai could still hear the query in his words.

"Oh, well you always said that when conducting research on something so obscure it is better to have as many different sources of evidence as possible. So I just thought…" She trailed off and shrugged in the direction that their client had gone before going back to her notes. Mai liked to use the interviews to interact with the client as much as possible and then make her notes afterwards before she forgot the details.

He wouldn't say it out loud, but Mai had been soaking up his teachings like a sponge. Yet when she applied the things he taught her to a case it still all came off so completely Mai flavoured you wouldn't be able to recognize his influence at all. He didn't know whether to throw his hands up in defeat or celebration at having been able to improve her efficiency without losing her charm. It was a moot point anyway, Naru wasn't one to go throwing up his hands for any reason.

Sakura-san returned with the tape Mai had requested and excused herself to continue setting up the displays for the day. Mai had finished her notes so she and Naru went about setting up the only two cameras they brought. They set one up facing the shop entrance and front displays and one in the back room facing the door that separated the two main spaces since they were the only angles the security cameras didn't capture while still being sure to have a visual on the roses. Everything went up in what felt like a blink of an eye to Mai, whom by now was used to investigating very large haunted spaces. The tiny cheerful shop seemed like a silly case by comparison.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: A Walk in the Park**

So here is the beginning of the first case, which will not feel like a normal case but don't worry, there will be far more terrifying cases in the future.

I hope you enjoyed it, feel free to tell me what you thought, good or bad.

Thank you very much to 'Ghost loves japan 77' for your regular reviews. That is very sweet of you.

I don't own Ghost Hunt.

S


	5. A Walk in the Park

**A Walk in the Park**

* * *

They added their monitors to the two in the security closet; as Mai had so far been referring to it as in her mind, and then struggled with what to do next. By this point it was only 9:30 in the morning. Normally they would continue to interview the staff but since they had yet to arrive they were left twiddling their thumbs. Set up usually took a lot longer that this.

Suddenly Mai had an idea.

"Naru, lets go for a walk." She wasn't really asking, she had already decided that this is what they should be doing and had grabbed her bag from where she had ditched it in the corner and was standing by the door waiting for him to follow her lead.

The boy in question had glanced up from watching the monitors in surprise at her seemingly random request. He watched her gather her things before standing by the door and looking back at him with clear and decided eyes. Normally, if someone on his team had requested to go for a walk in the middle of an investigation they would be faced with his scorn and disgust. But as he stared back into her bright cinnamon eyes he was forced to remember why he had accepted this case in the first place.

"Okay. Where to?" He slowly got to his feet after making sure all of their equipment was going to continue recording while they were gone and followed her out of the room.

If Mai was surprised that he agreed she didn't show it, as she led the way out of the shop she briefly explained to the woman behind the counter that they would be back before too long. Once out on the street she paused to take a deep breath of air and glanced around the street, soaking up her surroundings. The business day was well underway by this point, making it a flurry of activity. Naru was starting to think that she hadn't heard his question when she finally responded.

"I'm not really sure. Let's just see where our feet take us, hmm?" She smiled happily up at him before heading right down the street. The stoic teen pinched the bridge of his nose while silently asking for patience before following her. They walked in amicable silence, waiting at cross walks and taking the odd turn whenever Mai felt the urge, until she spoke up.

"What are we doing on a case like this one, Naru?" She asked this without glancing at him as they continued on their way. He looked over at her before answering carefully.

"She is a paying client and this is a business. I don't understand your line of questioning." Mai gave him a shrewd look at this point while they waited at the corner for the lights to change.

"You know exactly what I mean. This case doesn't fall under your usual M.O., it is too tame and simple for it to be of any interest to you. I-" She suddenly stopped mid rant and step and stared off into a park they happened to be passing by.

Naru was relieved that she had been distracted from her line of questioning, for he didn't want to have to explain himself until it was over. Providing her with too much insight could affect the results of the experiment after all. The focus of this case was to closely observe Mai in action in a low risk scenario to get a base reading of her abilities at work, but she didn't need to know that yet.

Speaking of which, it looked to him like she was in the middle of psychic realization right now. Naru had started to attribute the unusually sharp, wide eyed quality of her gaze to her more paranormal qualities. The problem was that Mai rarely volunteered whatever it was she picked up on in these moments of psychic clarity, without provocation. So it was his task to get her to voice these moments, hopefully as frequently as they occurred. How else was he supposed to monitor her continuous psychic development? He allowed her to remain frozen this way for a few more moments before trying to collect any data.

"Mai, what is it?" This caused her to blink and lose the look of clarity she'd worn just seconds ago and peer around at him as if just realizing he was there.

"Hmm? Nothing, lets go this way." And as if nothing had happened she was off strolling through the park. Oliver Davis released a heavy sigh of frustration before using his longer stride to join her. She was not going to get off the hook that easily. When he thought back to all the times when someone had called her out on similar strange behaviour in the past, her response had always been the same 'It's nothing' no matter how rattled she appeared. How much had they been missing? He was going to have to put an end to this withholding habit and soon.

"What made you choose to come through the park in the first place?" Determined to get his answers he continued to press the issue as Mai led them down a side trail that seemed to bend around a pretty white gazebo nestled at the edge of a patch of trees.

"What do you mean? It's another nice day and this is a pretty park. Here, we can take a break at that gazebo before heading back. I even brought you some tea, see?" She flashed him a bright smile and a glimpse of the thermos in her bag before hurrying up ahead of him to take a seat at one of the benches that lined the inside of the gazebo that gave a picturesque view of the park and the people enjoying it.

Naru slowly made his way up the steps to take a seat beside her on the bench before making one last attempt at prying into her thought process.

"You froze for a moment before hand as though you noticed something. Care to explain?" He accepted one of the little steel cups that came with the thermos while watching her carefully. Her face usually said what her voice would not. A look of uncertainty passed across her face, now they were getting somewhere.

"Well, when I first saw the park for a moment I thought it was raining. And not just a gentle rain either, I thought I heard thunder and everything. Isn't that weird?" She gave an uncomfortable giggle before turning away to sip her tea and swing her feet while watching some children playing near by.

"Did you not say just this morning that the dream you had about the roses also involved rain?" He tried to keep the incredulity out of his voice while bringing this to her attention. Naru was blown away by how often she denied her own abilities. It was as though she was just refusing to make the connections herself. There were psychological connotations there that he did not have time to fully analyze at this moment. She had stopped swinging her feet.

"Mmmm, yeah I guess I did didn't I? Ne, Naru? Where do you think all of those flowers are going? They can't just be disappearing off the face of the earth can they? Even the people disappearing in the Urado case were ending up somewhere. Where could they be? I mean that would be a lot of flowers right? Surely someone would have noticed them?" It was clear that the line of questioning was making her uncomfortable enough to ramble so Naru decided to appease her by going along with her subject change.

"Well, since no one is going to post an ad for hundreds of 'found' roses, it is a little hard to know whether or not someone has seen them. Once the flower arranger arrives at work we will ask her what she can remember about her Saturday evening clients of five or six years ago and hope that she has some semblance of a memory." They sat and sipped their tea while Mai thought about what he said. It was true that they didn't have any leads other than the roses, the regular time of disappearance and the length of time for which the activity has been going on. None of these these things pointed to a final destination for the roses.

Shaking off the thoughts about all their dead ends, Mai went back to enjoying the beautiful day. She felt so lucky in this moment, just the two of them drinking tea in the park on a sunny Saturday Morning. She could almost trick herself into thinking they were on a date. She couldn't quite suppress the happy giggle that image conjured so she had to say something to cover for her silly day dream.

I love this time of year. Everything is so colourful and bright and the smells…" She trailed off taking a deep breath of fresh air to try to pick up on the scent from the cherry blossom trees that lined the main path whom were reaching the end of their bloom. But that wasn't the type of flower she could smell. A look of confusion passed over her face and she took another deep breath through her nose this time with her eyes closed. This time she could definitely smell a deeper, more perfume like scent than the anticipated light, sweet smelling cherry blossoms. This was a scent that she had only just learned this morning while setting up the camera in the back room of the store.

"…Like roses." She finally finished, with a look of mild disbelief. She looked questioningly at Naru. "Can you smell it too?"

Naru took a moment to subtly sniff the air and a look of surprise sparkled in his eyes for a moment.

"I can." They shared a look before setting down their cups and wandering around the gazebo, following their noses. The smell seemed to be equally dispersed throughout the structure, so they went back down the steps and started to circle it from the outside, sweeping the area with keen eyes until they met up on the opposite side. They glanced back at the gazebo having seen no sign of the missing roses from outside. they both glanced down at the lattice enclosing the base of the park feature.

"I'm going in." Mai said this with determination, while pushing up her sleeves and crouching down to tug experimentally on the nearest lattice panels to see if one was already loose. Naru rolled his eyes before walking back around the gazebo a short ways and called Mai over. She scurried over to see that he had found one panel with hinges that was made to open for what she assumed to be maintenance purposes. She pulled out her ever-present-on-cases flashlight out of her bag and crouched down to shine it under the structure and gasped.

There, in the centre of the gazebo was what could only be described as a mound of flowers. Some of which were severely decomposed, the freshest pile on top looked to be a little over ten dozen long stem, unwrapped, mostly wilted roses.

Both Naru and Mai sat at the opening, staring at the flowers in silent disbelief.

"No way." Was all Mai weakly managed to mumble with regards to their latest development. Oliver's mind was similarly blown and was now racing through the last hour to try to determine if there were anything other than Mai's random whim that had led them to this very spot numerous blocks away from the flower shop.

"Have you ever been to this park before?" The only way he could make sense of the situation was to get as much information as possible.

"No, never. I don't know this part of the city at all."

"Do you recall seeing this gazebo in your dream?" She glanced up at it betore slowly shaking her head.

"Can you remember any other images from your dream last night?" She closed her eyes and thought hard about the brief images she had glimpsed before returning to the waking realm early that morning.

"There was a big tree. A big tree in the rain. And it was late." They sat quietly for another moment before Naru stood and began to wander around the gazebo again. Mai was still looking at the roses. She decided she would retrieve some to show Sakura that they were making progress. If only they could explain to her why they were reappearing beneath a gazebo in the park. The petit teenager began to crawl underneath towards the roses when Naru came back around looking for her.

"Mai, I found a date on the first bench. It seems that this was built almost five years ago. What are you doing?" his voice was louder now that he was peering in at her having found the girl to be missing from where he'd left her.

"I'm just going to grab some of the roses so we can show Sa-" Mai's explanation was cut off once she reached out and grabbed a handful of rose stems. It wasn't the thorns now cutting into her hand that made her trail off, it was the familiar feeling of her suddenly fading consciousness. She managed to call out to Naru weakly before blacking out completely.

"Mai?" Naru paused waiting for a response that never came. He squinted to see a dark shadow that must have been the sleeping form of his part-time worker. He let out a heavy sigh for what felt like the hundredth time that day, and it wasn't even noon.

"Of course, you just had to crawl well out of reach before falling into a vision, didn't you?" He griped quietly to himself as he rolled up his sleeves and started to crawl in after her. Once he reached her motionless form he proceeded to roll her on to her back to make sure her airway wasn't obstructed and discovered a problem. Now that he got to her, how was he supposed to get her out? He couldn't just drag her by her ankles and there wasn't enough space to pick her up. So here he sat, next to a prone Mai, waiting out her vision.

He hoped no one discovered them because it would be pretty tough to explain why he was down there with an unresponsive female, laying on a bed of old roses. The tea addict in him decided it might be worth being noticed to retrieve the tea Mai had brought for him while he waited.

* * *

She was running down the street, in a thunderstorm, at night. She was so worried, what if she never forgave her?

In the back of her mind she couldn't quite figure out just who it was that she was hoping to receive forgiveness from or why she was under some sort of deadline.

She just kept running as the storm got progressively worse and she eventually reached the park.

She never meant to say those things, of course she didn't mean any of it. Surely she knew that.

Oh god I hope I'm not too late.

Mai had diverted off the main path to follow the smaller path that led into the trees, but by now she was feeling quite winded.

She took shelter beneath the big oak tree that stood alone next to the path to catch her breath, resting her hands on her knees, she took notice of the bouquet of roses fisted tightly in her now much larger, masculine hand.

She should have bought more, she chastised herself silently when she started to notice her skin was beginning to tingle.

Mai glanced up in time to be blinded by a bright hot light as an earth shattering boom ripped through the air, then there was nothing.

* * *

Naru sat quietly next to Mai, sipping her tea. He had located her flashlight and used it every once in a while to check on her vitals.

Trapped alone with his thoughts made him regret not bringing his notebook with him. Mai had brought her whole bag on their walk and while she may have packed some reading material he was too uncomfortable with the idea of sifting through her personal belongings to check.

So think he did, which normally he wouldn't mind; seeming as he was incredibly good at it, but lately most of his thoughts had a common theme. A theme that happened to be the reason he was in this mess in the first place.

How did she do it? How did she manage to find the roses like that? It looked like she had just stumbled upon them the same way she did everything else. Most of her capabilities were latent. Meaning they were present and accessible but Mai did not consciously decide whether or not to use them. Really it seemed more like _they_ used _her_.

This realization had dangerous implications. What if he had made her go on her walk alone? Would she still have wound up face down and unconscious beneath a gazebo several blocks away?

Probably. He let go yet another sigh and tried not to think about what his mother always said about people who do so too often, when Mai sat bolt up right with gasp only to hit her head on one of the lower support beams of the floor of the gazebo. She cried out in pain and started to fall backwards to what would have been a painful landing in a bed of thorns had Naru not reached out to catch her and ease her down slowly, twisting her away from the dried flowers and toward himself.

Mai still had the echo of an explosion ringing in her ears and the feeling of static electricity running over her skin as she tried to blink the spots out of her eyes that must have been a combination of the bright flash she had just witnessed and the bump on the head she just received. She decided to just lay still until her sensory overload faded away, pressing the side of her face into the warm thing that was supporting her head, using it to try and anchor her off kilter mind.

Naru watched her try to recover and did his best to not be affected by her throaty groans and the way she was snuggling into his hand. However he could not resist sweeping her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear, hoping she was still too out of it to notice. Once her breathing had levelled out and she didn't seem to be in anymore pain he began to question her.

"What happened?"

Mai had been close to falling asleep, tired from her psychic episode she blinked back to life only to realize that Naru was currently pillowing her head in his hand. This caused her to freak out once more and almost launched herself into a sitting position again, except Naru seemed to have anticipated this reaction from her.

"No, don't!" He had cupped the other side of her face to keep her head where it was in his hand. "Do you want to bash your head again, Idiot? Hold still and tell me what you saw." Now that he mentioned it she could feel her forehead throbbing beneath her bangs which only got worse with her increasing blush. She desperately fought to remain professional and tried to focus on relaying to her boss what she had witnessed.

When it looked like she wasn't about to spring up he removed the hand holding her down and fought the heat creeping up his neck. This position felt uncomfortably intimate but she needed to lay still after something like that and he didn't feel right leaving her head laying in the dirt. Thankfully Mai seemed just as determined to pretend this wasn't happening and began her explanation.

"I think I was struck by lightning." Naru raised an eyebrow. Mai realized she probably should have set the scene first. "I was a man, running through a storm in the evening. I was worried about something I had said to a woman and was bringing her roses to ask for her forgiveness. I took shelter under a tree to catch my breath and then Kaboom! That was it." Her eyes started to water. "It must have been very important to him, if he is still trying to bring her those flowers." Naru's face softened as he watched her look away and try to compose herself.

"Do you think you can crawl out of here? You should get some fresh air." Mai nodded, blushing harder at the increased friction between his palm and her cheek and shakily sat up onto her hands and knees, nodding at Naru once she had steadied herself enough to get moving.

Naru led the way out so that he could help her to her feet when she reached the outside. He held her by her elbows while she found her balance and then dropped his hands as soon as it seemed safe to let her go. They both averted their eyes at the unexpected tension that had settled between them. Mai was desperate to break it.

"So what now?" It was all she could think to say, luckily it was enough for him.

"We continue on with our original plan. Now we have a direction to go with for our line of questioning. Not to mention a more detailed look at the spirits intentions." Mai thought she heard approval in his tone of voice that made her feel warm inside and she couldn't help but smile up at him. She was startled into stopping however when she felt the weight of her bag leaving her shoulder. Naru had taken it from her and was now wearing it himself.

"Come on, lets head back." They started slowly down the path and Dr. Davis decided to use this opportunity to run through some of their newly collected data. "We now know that our ghost is a male who likely died from lightning striking the tree he was under. He seems to be seeking forgiveness from an as of yet unidentified female by bringing her roses." Mai continued for him.

"But only ever makes it as far as the tree. In my dream he was following the trail that leads passed the gazebo; it felt like a short cut of some sort, but I don't know to where." She appeared to be pondering it over.

"We will take a look at some satellite maps online when we get back to the shop."

* * *

 **Next: To Master a Craft**

 **A/N:** Another chapter, yay!

Thank you for the feed back, those of you who give it.

And thank you for reading, those of you who do.

I do not own Ghost Hunt.

S.


	6. To Master a Craft part 1

**To Master a Craft**

* * *

They were back in the tiny room at the back of the shop, heads close together as they scanned over-head photos of the park and its surroundings on a company tablet equipped with roaming wifi- One of Yasuhara's favourite new additions to SPR's inventory. At the far corner of the park that contained the Gazebo, there was a small path that led to both a library and a hospital and was surrounded by what appeared to be a number of small businesses. Their attempt at running through various scenarios was disrupted by the sound of a new voice entering the back room. Definitely female, the person sounded loud and bubbly. Glancing at the time they realized that it must have been the Flower Arranger arriving for her shift. They shared a wordless glance before they both straightened up and collected the things they were going to need to continue with their questioning and left the mini base to meet her.

Tsukiko-san (they didn't yet know her surname) was in her late twenties and had thick and curly dark hair that was threatening to escape from the large clip she was using to keep it pulled back from her face. She wore very sparkly earrings, bracelets and rings on her manicured fingers, making her movements glitter and flash. Her outfit off-set her accessories with its practicality, hidden beneath a dark green apron embellished with needle point flowers and butterflies. Surprise lit up her features at the sight of two strangers emerging from the unused closet at the back of her place of business.

"Oh Hello! You two must be they ones Sakura-san called in to help with our little problem. I had know idea you two were going to be so cute!"

Mai flushed prettily at the unanticipated complement while Naru's brow furrowed in consternation at having been described as _cute,_ but decided to let it slide for the sake of efficiency.

"My name is Shibuya Kazuya and this is Taniyama Mai." Said girl gave a small bow. "We would like to ask you a few questions when it is convenient." It sounded as though she could choose to deal with them at her leisure but the way he stared her down with his notebook at the ready said otherwise. Mai resisted rolling her eyes at his abysmal people skills and instead turned a warm smile on their subject as she usually does, to try to soften his harsh approach.

"Well I can answer them now if you would like, as long as you don't mind me getting started on my work load. Don't worry, I am a great multi-tasker plus arranging bouquets is my calling, I could do it in my sleep!" She embellished this by throwing her hand in the air and giggled to herself as she started delicately snipping away at the stems of the flowers. "I'm not a suspect, am I? Why would I steal roses when I get to play with them all day anyway? That would just be silly." The woman scrunched up her nose at the thought while she continued organizing her bundle into a pleasing array.

It was Oliver's turn to try not to roll his eyes. He found people like this to be exhausting and knew that he would need all of his patience to get through this interview without upsetting her. Mai seemed to have come to the same conclusion for she had stepped forward to take over. ' _Just as well'_ he thought, this _was_ supposed to be a test of her psychic capabilities, why not observe her investigative abilities while he was at it?

"Oh no Tsukiko-san," The Junior Investigator had her hands up in a placating manor. "we don't think you are stealing the roses, we would just like to ask you a little about your experiences while working here. How long have you been employed by Sakura-san?"

"I have been on staff here for almost six years now, it will be six years in August I believe?… Yes, that must be it." She was carefully tying a bright red ribbon around the bundle of flowers she had just finished arranging. "I remember because we had some really big storms that Summer. I had to call for a cab to get home a few times, they were that scary!"

' _Exactly what we wanted to hear.'_ Naru held back a smirk of satisfaction as he crossed his arms.

"Have you always work Saturday afternoons and evenings?" Mai tried not to be distracted by the work of art the older woman had just put together, she really did have a talent.

" _Always._ Saturday is a busy day here so I take my days off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays mostly, unless theres a wedding or something. What colours should I do the next one in?" Mai blinked as she registered the off topic question and quickly glanced towards the flower coolers.

"Umm, Pink?"

"A girl after my own heart." She winked at Mai and flounced her way into the cooler while Naru allowed himself yet another quiet sigh. She grabbed flowers in various shades of pink, purple and white before returning to the table with an arm full.

"Tsukiko-san-"

"Just Suki is fine, everybody calls me Suki."

"Suki-san, do you happen to remember if any of those really stormy days fell on a Saturday?"

The bubbly woman seemed to ponder this over and Mai waited patiently. It had been a long time ago after all.

"Yes," She started slowly, having stopped what she was doing to focus all of her brain power on resurfacing the memory. "there was a particularly bad one that had started only an hour before my shift was to end." She pouted "That was definitely a cab night."

"Do you remember if you had any last minute customers that night?"

Suki gasped.

"I did! How did you know that?!" She asked Mai; her eyes bright with excitement, the flowers now lay completely forgotten.

' _So much for multitasking'_ Naru thought snidely.

"What do you remember about your interaction with him?" Mai seemed determined to ignore Tsukiko's question but in her hunt for the truth, Naru noticed that she had slipped up. Mai had not received confirmation from the witness that the customer was indeed a male before revealing the information herself. He just hoped that the woman was enough of an airhead to miss her slip.

"He came running up to the shop doors after I had just locked them. It's policy to not let customers in after close; especially in those days, we used to stay open pretty late on Fridays and Saturdays but he seemed so upset." She paused at this thought looking a little sad, seemingly lost in the memory.

"Did he happen to mention anything about himself while he was here?" Mai's eyes were shimmering with compassion, Naru couldn't help but note.

"He said that his fiancé was really sick and that he had said something horrible and needed a token for his apology." Mai still held Suki's full attention.

"What did he end up getting?"

"Well, by then all the pre-made bouquets we had in the fridge were for orders to go out first thing the next day. He seemed to be in a serious rush and said he only wanted her favourite. Roses. So, I took him back here and just let him pick what roses he wanted; I was in a rush too, my cab was already on its way." She looked down and half heartedly shuffled through the flowers, finally holding up a tiny white rose to look at more closely.

"He grabbed what must have been twenty roses in just about every colour and size; It ended up looking kind of neat, actually."

"You seem to remember this customer quite well for how long ago this was. What was it that made this encounter stick with you for so long?" Naru cut in at this time, he had not been expecting such a clear recollection.

A tiny frown marred Suki's face as she considered the inquiry.

"He was so…Sad. Not your normal kind of sad, like I mean It seemed like his world was coming to an end, whether she forgave him or not. It made me think of him often after that."

A Silence settled over them for a moment.

"Did you catch a name?" Mai asked finally to cut the tension, not expecting any results.

"No, it all happened pretty quickly." It seemed like they managed to take the wind out of her sails and Mai fell bad. Figuring that she had acquired all the information she was going to, Mai tried to cheer her up.

"You really do make lovely bouquets Suki-san, Did someone teach you?" Mai stepped forward to sniff the completed bouquet with the red ribbon, it was full of reds oranges and greens.

"Thank you!" Suki perked up immediately. "As a matter of fact I first learned from my grandmother, she loved flowers and taught me to arrange the ones she cut from her garden and the rest was history, as they say." She gave Mai a big smile and went back to trimming and sorting her next batch.

"Thank you for your time Tsukiko-san. I believe that will be all for now." Naru turned on his heel and made his way back to their mini-base while Mai cast one last smile and wave before following after him. The older boy held the door open for her to pass through it first but they were stopped short by Suki's voice.

"Now you two behave in there!" She gave a silly giggle before bringing the completed arrangements to the front of the store.

Mai, who had been standing in the door way to their temporary work space gasped and sputtered indignantly with a face like a tomato. Naru gave an irritated huff.

"Just go inside Mai, pay no attention to the ramblings of simpletons." The Researcher put a hand on her back and turned her around to guide her back into the large dark closet. This only managed to make her face burn brighter, something Oliver was used to seeing by now. Normally he would be doing what he could to prolong such a pleasing flush but the implications of the woman's statement made his stomach tighten uncomfortably. Nothing a simple subject change couldn't fix.

"I think it's safe to say that the intended recipient for the flowers had been staying at the hospital." He sat at the desk and pulled out the tablet.

"It's too bad we couldn't get a name, whoever it was wouldn't still be there after all this time, right?" As her flush began to fade, Mai sat of the edge of the desk next to him and fought off a yawn. "So where do we look next?"

Deep sapphire eyes scanned the girl in front of him. Her eyelids were heavy and she still had a small leaf caught in her hair.

" _I_ will be doing some research on the building of the Gazebo and deaths in the park. _You_ will be taking a nap. If you are going to make it to the end of the day you are going to have to take some time to properly recover from your vision."

"But what about interviewing Jin-san? And when should we show Sakura-san the flowers we found?" She crossed her arms and pouted. Naru had to look away from the endearing expression.

"The delivery mans shift ends long before our culprit arrived at the shop, I doubt he will have any useful information for us. We will give Sakura-san the roses when we know more about the man that took them. Now get some rest and don't try to tell me that you aren't tired, you have yawned three times since the interview and can barely keep your eyes open.

She sighed, slid off the desk and stretched her arms above her head. Naru did his best to keep his eyes on the screen.

"Fine, but you have to wake me if there are any new developments, okay?" She was settling in the corner, sitting up on the floor behind her boss, hoping to keep him from seeing her do anything embarrassing in her sleep like drool or make funny faces. He used the opportunity to roll his eyes freely at her silly demands.

"Of course Mai." was all he responded with. She glared at the back of his head, feeling that his reassurances might be insincere but shrugged it off before snuggling into her jacket-turned-pillow and closing her eyes.

Twenty minutes passed before Oliver dared to cast a glance over his shoulder at the slumbering girl tucked in a tight ball in the corner of the room. She had a gentle smile on her face that made his usually hard look soften. After a moments hesitation he stood from his seat to remove his ever present jacket to drape over her small frame. He watched as she registered the extra warmth by sighing contentedly and fisting the fabric of his coat to tuck it tightly under her chin before settling back down into her peaceful slumber.

He was sometimes envious of her ability to sleep anywhere anytime. Sleep often eluded him and when he did get it, it was fitful and brief. It was just another way that they were complete opposites from one another.

The socially stunted teen hesitated before reaching down once more to carefully liberate the tiny dry rose leaf from her tresses. Now officially out of safe reasons to hover he turned back to his seat and angled it so that he could at least catch glimpses of her out of the corner of his eye while he worked.

* * *

Mai blinked awake to find herself surrounded by a vast nothingness dotted with fox fires and will-o'-wisps. Familiar with the setting, she spun around to look for an even more familiar face. And there he was, smiling softly like always but this time it occurred to Mai just how young Gene looked. She had just seen his twin brother moments ago and it made the softer angles of Gene's cheek bones, jaw line and shoulders stand out. He was also shorter, Mai had noticed, meaning Naru must have grown a few inches since she first met him. The astral projector was saddened by this obvious reminder that Gene didn't live to be very old at all.

"Hi Gene," she drifted over to him through the Realm of Lingering Spirits, smiling fondly. "Are you here to help Naru and I with our case?"

"Of course," He paused "Do you mean to say it's just the two of you on this case?" He seemed intrigued.

"Yeah, Naru must have realized before hand that it was going to be pretty straight forward. Honestly I'm still surprised he took the case at all." She held a finger to her chin as she thought back on it.

"Did you ask him about it?"

"Yeah, and all he said was that they were paying customers; which I know is an excuse because I have seen him turn away dozens of potential clients who were waving their money at him." She was beginning to frown at the signs of deceit.

Gene had a couple theories as to why Noll would have decided to accept this job, most of which revolved around the girl standing in front of him now. Unfortunately he didn't want to share any of his suspicions with the probable cause of his brothers out of character behaviour, in case he ruins his brothers careful manoeuvrings. The teen spirit believed that any extra focus on Mai was a good thing for his brother. He would have to confront him for the details the next time Noll called him to his mirror.

"Try not to worry about it too much Mai, maybe he was just bored. Now back to business, there is something here for you to see. Do you know how to access it?"

She stared at him blankly.

"What do you mean? Don't you just show me where it is?"

Gene shook his head.

"I'm not going to be around to help you find your way forever, you are going to have to learn to navigate through the different Realms you have access to on your own eventually."

Mai seemed confused.

"Realms?" She asked weakly, only for the Spectre to shake his head once again. He decided that neither of them had the extra time and energy necessary to dive into a lesson right now.

"Shall we?" He held out his hand for a still dazed Mai to take and turned to the darkness that had one bright light quickly growing to swallow them.

* * *

Once Mai's eyes adjusted from the change in lighting she saw that they were standing in the corner of a hospital room. In the bed sat a young woman who was showing the effects of long term chemotherapy use. She was pale, thin and had dark circles under her eyes, a scarf over her head hid her missing hair. In the visitors chair that was pulled up to the bed was a tall young man who seemed to be getting worked up. The young psychic leaned forward to listen in on the conversation.

"You can't, you _can't_ Mimi! What about our future together, we had plans! I can't believe you would just give up like this!" He put his head in his hands, Mimi gently reached out to take one of them into her own hands.

"Haru, Sweetheart, I had a meeting with the doctors this morning. They said that the cancer has spread. My treatment isn't working, all it is doing is making my final days miserably painful. I want to be able to enjoy what little time I have left." Her too large eyes were bright and pleading.

Haru refused to look at her and had started violently shaking his head before she had stopped speaking and ripped his hand away from the feeble woman.

"No, NO! You can't do this! You can't give up, Mimi you promised me your future when you accepted that ring and I expect you to keep that promise!" He was sobbing now "I won't forgive you." He said the last part with a deadly calm before walking out the door without looking back. The woman in the hospital bed watched him go with tears silently running down her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She whispered to the empty room before the vision began to fade.

* * *

Mai slowly returned to the land of the living only to realize two things. Her cheeks felt wet and someone had a hold of her shoulder. She blinked slowly and raised a hand to rub at her eyes only to find it hidden by Naru's coat. Not wanting to make a mess of it she shook her hand free to rid the moisture from her flushing cheeks.

As Mai began to shift awake Oliver let go of her shoulder. During his last glance in her direction his stomach dropped upon realizing that her sweet, little smile had turned into a sad, tear soaked pout. Deciding that this just wouldn't do, he put everything down and went about waking her up.

"You were crying." Naru stated the obvious in response to the questioning look he was now receiving from his blurry-eyed part-timer. "Was it a dream?" He followed up with an obvious question since he had already decided to make a habit of asking it.

She slowly nodded her head.

"She was dying of cancer." Mai almost whispered, staring straight ahead of herself with an unfocused expression.

"Who?" Naru prodded her along, trying to be patient.

"Mimi, his fiancé, Haru's fiancé." Her voice grew clearer with every word and her eyes managed to zero in on his.

"So we have some names, that should be enough to work with." Naru was pleased with the swift progress they were making. Maybe he should only take Mai on cases more often.

"I also know what he was trying to apologize for."

"Oh?" Naru held out his hand to help Mai up which she didn't hesitate to accept. He pulled her to her feet and held on until she was steady. She handed him back his jacket with a grateful smile.

"Yes, her cancer had gotten worse and she had decided to refuse further treatment. He was so upset that he yelled at her before storming out." Her face took on that heartbreakingly depressed look once more. "It was awful, she seemed so frail, so small, she couldn't have had much time left." Her eyes were becoming glassy.

Naru felt his heart clench and his pulse speed up at the prospect of Mai starting to cry. Ignoring this overtly emotional response to someone else's feelings, he worked to distract her from her empathy.

"Since we have gathered the majority of the facts we can now write our report and begin to devise an exorcism strategy. Once we have outlined our findings on paper, we can explain to Tanaka-san what the cause of her disturbance is and how we are going to deal with it." He went to back to sitting at the desk. "While you were out, I found a news article on the lightning strike in the park and the man who died. The article explained that he had left behind a fiancé but did not make any references to her health. I did manage to trace her name to a death notice dated just over a month after the incident."

Mai's aura seemed to brighten a little as she finally moved from where she had remained frozen in the corner to once again sit facing him on the desk.

"Then she is waiting for him." She said this with an airy warmth and surety that made the Researchers heart skip a beat and quickly shift his eyes to her face. Her eyes were back to being too sharp and bright while looking at nothing in particular. "This has all been a misunderstanding, in fact, she had wanted _his_ forgiveness. Mimi must have realized what he had been up to when the accident happened, she had forgiven him years ago, now we just have to make sure he knows it."

She finished off her explanation with a crisp look of determination that she planted on Naru, who tried not to turn to dust under it's intensity. Not that he would let it show. He looked away before speaking.

"Come on. I will buy us lunch and we can talk about how we're going to get that message across." He stood once more before slipping on his jacket and heading for the door.

Mai blinked a few times in surprise before a pleased smile worked its way over her features and she hopped off the desk to follow him.

"Okay!" came her happy reply, as she skipped up to his side to flash him her grateful smile.

He struggled not to smile back, and found himself thinking of the increasing number of times he has had to resist that urge. He stealthily glanced sideways at the once again cheery girl and couldn't help the feeling of contentment that was settling in his stomach, much to his consternation. There was nothing to gain from feeling this way about someone whom already has feelings for a better version of you. Someone she still sees. His stomach twisted at this reminder, successfully squashing any unwelcome pleasantness that had been threatening to take hold.

He almost sighed in a combination of frustration and a sense of loss when Mai caught his attention again. She was smiling and waving at a curious baby that was propped up in its' mothers arms, causing the infant to light up and giggle before giving her a silly wave in return.

Who was he kidding? He was doomed.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: To Master a Craft; Continued.**

 **A/N:** Sorry, but this Chapter was just a little too long on its own, so I decided to break it in to two. I will post the second half after I give it the once over.

Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed, and to those of you who have bothered to follow along. Please, if you have any questions or comments be sure to make them.

I recently discovered the manga Psychic Detective Yakumo, its' story line has a lot of parallels to Ghost Hunt, only Ghost Hunt still has better structure and more engaging characters. But the mysteries are still pretty dark and complex and the Yakumo and Haruka relationship is reminiscent of Naru and Mai's. I wouldn't bother with the anime for Yakumo though, it's not very good.

I hope to update again soon.

 **S**.


	7. To Master a Craft part 2

**To Master a Craft, Continued**

* * *

At a nice clean restaurant they sat in a booth just the two of them, where they discussed the layout of their report and made plans for the exorcism. Mai hoped she would get a chance to talk to the lingering spirit and put his concerns to rest and subsequently him as well. They even discussed their friends (not that Naru would openly address them as such) and how each of them would handle the situation. Mai's animated impersonations actually provoked a dry chuckle from the inexpressive scientist; who couldn't stop one corner of his mouth from quirking up in a half smile, much to Mai's delight. If only he wouldn't look away at moments like that, while the smile was great, it was his eyes that she wanted to see smiling.

The eyes are the window to the soul, as it's always been said. After numerous meetings with Oliver Davis' lost identical twin, Mai couldn't help but agree. It was through their eyes where she would see the true identity of the person beneath. While both twins had deep, piercing blue eyes there was something more hidden under the surface of their gaze. When Gene smiled, there was a warm, soft glow of understanding and comfort that would radiate from behind his look. But when Oliver truly smiled, (Mai's heart skipped a beat just thinking about it) It was like every star in their Galaxy lined up and shot right through her, as though his smiling eyes were a gateway to the Universe. Maybe that's why they are so well guarded, for Mai had really only seen it happen twice, three times maybe, and those instances were so brief she almost thought she had imagined it. She probably would have gone on thinking so if she couldn't still feel the lasting impression those tiny moments in time had left on her soul.

Mai brushed aside her disappointment and tried not to think about what a good time she was having. This was a case not a date. Although when you added up their activities through out the day it seemed awfully close. He held open her car door for her, they went for a walk in the park and he bought her lunch! Not to mention all the touching that had happened between them in the last twenty four hours, she could still feel the warmth of his palm against her cheek from when he had cradled her head after her vision. Her cheeks began to burn at the thought and she hoped that he didn't notice her seemingly unprovoked reaction. They were now on their way back from an unexpectedly pleasant lunch and a glance at her companion told her that he was lost in thought, which was just as well. He _had_ to know that he was the number one source of her blushes, and he caught her doing so way more often than she was comfortable with. It must be awkward for him to know she still felt that way even after having turned her down, but she really did enjoy his company and wanted him to be comfortable in her presence.

Meanwhile, Naru was mentally running through all the forced dates he's had with Masako. He couldn't help but compare them to the friendly lunch he had just shared with Mai. She was so easy going and friendly it was hard not to get pulled into her vortex of easy smiles and casual mien. While his time with Masako had always been a dreaded affair full of fake giggles from behind a sleeve and elitist scorn in stuffy, high end restaurants. Their conversations would be painfully forced, at least from his end. Whereas with Mai it seemed as though their meal was over far to soon, and their conversation flowed freely, talking about the case, their colleagues and everything in between. He found himself mesmerized by her limitless facial expressions and animated way with which she spoke, drawing him in with her magnetic personality. He fought hard to suppress his reactions to her antics but could do nothing about the fuzzy warmth that had swelled in his chest with every radiant smile she flashed his way.

When they made it back to the shop, it was nearing Three PM. Suki was still working away in the back room and perked up at the site of them.

"Mai-chan! I just received an order for an ENORMOUS birthday bouquet that has to be ready by Six. Want to help me put it together?" The way she was biting her lip through her smile and bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement made her seem much younger than she was.

Mai's face lit up at the prospect but then appeared apologetic as she remembered why she was there in the first place.

"Sorry Suki-san but-" She was interrupted by Naru.

"It's fine Mai, I have to write the report and it will take twice as long with you hovering around. I will call you when you're needed." With that he went straight to base and firmly shut the door behind him, leaving a pleasantly surprised Mai and a madly clapping florist in his wake.

Inside the safety of the surveillance room, with his hand still on the door knob, Naru took a calming breath. He needed to take a few moments to clear his mind and reign in his emotions. Allowing himself to feel too much of _anything_ tended to be risky, because having his emotions close to the surface was almost indicative to his PK simmering just below the surface too.

When he became emotional as a boy, he would easily have objects floating about the room and as he got older, his PK grew stronger, leading to drops in temperature and objects would not only float but disassemble themselves in mid-air. Now that he was reaching adulthood, he could feel the intensity of the power running through his veins and knew that he could shut down the entire power grid if he wanted; killing himself in the process, of course.

With out his older twin brother around it was only a matter of time before his control slips and ends up following his other half into the afterlife. His brothers skill set had included the ability to obsorb, level and return his incredible energy back to him, helping him 'burn off steam without breaking the container' as Gene himself had once put it. Oliver liked to think of it as the inner workings of an alternator, which produces electricity when a spinning magnetic field comes into contact with the metal wire coil inside the motor. Creating a high voltage when it's needed. Oliver is the always charged magnetic field and Gene was the machinery that turned that energy into something productive.

The Telekinetic teenager mentally shook off the depressing thoughts and focussed on his training. His adoptive parents had insisted he develop other methods of controlling his powers, resulting in years of martial arts and meditation. He was grateful for their meddling now that he was older but he had put up a fight in the beginning; believing it was a waste of precious research time, but Gene convinced him to undergo the training together. The same way they did everything, that was until Gene's trip to Japan.

Now frustrated with himself (Mai must be rubbing of on him) he tried once more to clear his head and level himself out, this time with some measure of success. Finally taking his seat he went about starting his report, doing his best to ignore the pleasing bell tones of his former assistant's voice that reached him from behind the door closed door.

If he wasn't careful, she really would be the death of him.

* * *

A few hours passed with Mai happily learning the ins and outs of flower arranging and Naru piecing together a very detailed paper on the paranormal happenings of the store. When Sakura was ready to go home for the day, he and Mai presented to her their findings and explained their plan of action. She was shocked when Mai showed to her the dried roses they had discovered beneath the gazebo and became teary eyed when she learned her ghost's sad story. Immensely pleased with their efforts she wished them good luck with the rest of their task and headed home for the night. The store would remain open for another hour or two with Suki watching the front and tidying up for the day, then the store would close and she would assemble any last minute orders for the next day before going home.

Naru had found Haru's obituary in some old news paper records, meaning his body had been properly tended to. So in order to encourage him to move on, they were going to try to convince Haru that he had Mimi's forgiveness by explaining it to him; after he had retrieved the roses, but before he reached the location of his death. Mai felt that if she confronted him in the park she might be able to convince him before the cycle completed again. If she can't, then they might have to call in Father Brown or wait until the next Saturday of his ritual.

Mai had come to love the feeling she associated with persuading a Spirit to choose to move on. The golden glow and tingling warmth that accompanied the sensation of tranquility was without a comparison. She was glad to have the chance to experience it again. The high-schooler felt confident in her plan and that seemed to be enough for Naru.

They thought it was best to leave their cameras in place, to capture the disappearing roses with an infrared camera this time. Since their little intervention would be held off site they would let Suki go home at her usual time and just return for their equipment the next day when they brought back the (hopefully) last batch of runaway roses.

Since they had time to kill before the cleansing, Naru lead her to a coffee shop where they each ordered a drink and he ordered them two sandwiches to go, before picking up the entire tab. Mai was a little surprised that they hadn't just gone back to the office, it wasn't that far of a drive and they had at least two hours before they needed to be in position.

Killing time in a public setting was something she had never witnessed her Boss do willingly, it was suspicious. But she wasn't going to question her luck too much, she was having a wonderful day. This was the _second_ meal that Naru was treating her to and she couldn't help but tremble with giddiness for a moment. They were slowly making their way along the side walk, after having finished their drinks in the coffee shop, where they had discussed Mai's classes and Naru's next dissertation. The conversation flowed so naturally that when there was silence it was always comfortable, neither ever felt the need to make small talk.

Mai was broken from her thoughts when a plain, dark scarf wrapped itself around her shoulders, causing her to look up at Naru in surprise, but he had just continued walking with his eyes forward, as if nothing had happened. He must have felt the heat of her gaze because his soon slid back to her face before he answered her unasked question.

"It's cooling off and we can't have you shivering your way through an exorcism." His deep, smooth voice drawled with finality, as though to end the discussion.

Mai realized that he must have mistaken her tremble of excitement for a shiver, and decided to offer her the scarf that he kept in his coat pocket. Her skin burned where his thoughtfully offered garment graced her shoulders and the feeling spread to a bright red blush on her face. She was very happy that he chose to offer her his scarf rather than rekindle their argument from the night before. This also made her realize that he was paying much closer attention to her than she thought, if he had noticed that.

She chanced another sideways glance up at his face and was perturbed to see the smirk he usually wore when he caught her blushing because of him. This only caused her to avert her eyes and huff petulantly while blushing even deeper. If she had still been watching she would have seen a small but very genuine smile briefly grace his handsome face as he watched her covertly out of the corner of his eyes.

After Some aimless wandering with Mai stopping their progress every now and then to comment on some of the more demonstrative window displays; through which Naru humoured her by waiting, listening and responding when necessary, they were finally back at the gazebo. They were sitting in the same spot where they sat that morning, only this time they were sharing the sandwiches Naru had purchased them in the cafe.

The park had a completely different vibe now than it had in the day light. Now that night had set in, the pathways were lit with large lantern style lamp posts, with matching fixtures lining the bridge over the pond, causing the water to shimmer with gold. The gazebo itself was outfitted with solar lights on either side of each post, creating a warm glow in and around the structure. Mai couldn't help but admire the beauty the scene presented, for she wasn't one to linger alone in parks after nightfall; for obvious reasons, and doesn't get to see such a sight very often. There were still the odd pedestrian roaming about, a couple walking arm in arm, some runners and dog walkers but mostly things were quiet.

"Have you thought about what you are going to say?" Oliver had broken the silence, effectively drawing Mai's attention back to him. She seemed to ponder about his question while she quickly finished chewing her food.

"Well, I think if I can gently explain to him that they are both already dead and that in order to see her again he has to move on, he just might. I'm not sure he even realizes that he is dead. He was so distracted at the time that the lightning hit and then it was over so fast that I can't even be sure that I felt anything." Her eyes grew wide before her expression became sheepish. "I mean, that _HE_ felt anything."

"Would you say that you experience most of your dreams from a first person perspective?" The Scientist in him saw this as an opportunity to get some more details from the less than forthcoming about her ESP, former assistant.

"Well, it depends which kind of dream it is. Sometimes I am myself in the dream, and I am floating in the darkness surrounded by fox fires and wisps. Often that place will let me see what is going on in the building around me, and I can see way more than I can when I'm awake." She continued to look out at the park as she spoke, before taking another small bite of her sandwich.

"What kind of things do you see?" Naru internally struggled to contain his intrigue at her statement.

"You remember the case at Yasu's school right? well it was like I was hovering above the whole building, but I could see through every wall and floor. It was almost like looking at 3D blue prints that had people walking around inside them. I could also see the different spirits floating around and I could tell if they were a part of the curse or not." She swung her feet back and forth as she spoke, still not looking at him.

Naru fought the urge to get out his note book and write this information down so that he could remember to go back and update the old case file.

"Is there anything else you see when you are dreaming as yourself?" He wondered how much he could get out of her before the spell was broken.

"Umm, I am myself when I speak with Gene. Usually this all takes place in the same, Realm, I guess you could call it. But I noticed that Gene is more likely to appear if I don't have a location in focus. If he does show up to talk to me then, he is always a little distant. The only times that he is between me and a structure is to show me where to go, and at those times he doesn't seem to be able to speak."

Naru's throat grew tight at the mention of his brother but he wasn't completely unprepared for him to come up. As she continued into more detail than she had ever been willing to divulge before, Naru realized that there was so much more to her time in dreamland than he had realized. He was about to continue along his line of questioning when Mai suddenly froze with her wide cinnamon eyes glowing brightly in the lamp light. She then set aside what was left of her sandwich and stood, before making her way down the steps.

Naru pulled out his cellphone and set it to record, wanting to catch as much of the interaction on video as he could.

Slowly, a disturbance in the air about fifteen feet away from Mai was noticeable, only becoming more obvious as it approached them. Once the entity carrying a large blurry bouquet was nearly right before her, Mai spoke clearly.

"Haru." The bouquet halted its forward progress but did not stop manifesting in the real world. "Haru, you don't have to bring Mimi flowers anymore."

An echoey voice responded, coming from nowhere and all around them at once.

"She won't forgive me." The voice was laced with anguish and despair. No doubt this spirit was beginning to warp from being stuck repeating the same incident over and over again.

"You're wrong Haru-kun, She forgave you before you even made it out of the building." The opaque man was now visible standing before her, with his arms full of roses. He seemed to be listening to what Mai had to say.

"She wanted _your_ forgiveness for having to leave you before you were both ready. But that doesn't matter now Haru-kun, because there was an accident, and you have been stuck trying to bring her these flowers for years now. Mimi has already passed on and is waiting for you. Why don't you leave those here and go to her? You have both been waiting so long to be together, don't you think it's about time?" There was a clear, compassionate, almost dreamy sound to Mai's voice as she spoke to the confused spirit, whose expression cleared and body began to glow in a warm light as she explained to the ghost that he didn't need to do this anymore.

"Mimi is waiting?" He was smiling now, and beginning to rise up as he glowed brighter. Mai smiled and nodded her assurance to the young man, who returned it before turning away and disappearing in a bright flash, leaving the roses to cascade towards the ground.

Mai dashes forward and managed to catch most of them in her arms, giggling as she struggled to accommodate them all. She beamed over her shoulder at Naru.

"Well that's a case closed, huh Naru? It went a lot smoother than I expected it to." Naru hit the 'stop recording' icon on his phone and took a moment to soak up the image she made, frozen on his phone. Her hair and features a warm hue in the lamp light, with the bright smile on her face and her arms full of flowers, her cheeks were flushed with the success of her exorcism while the darkness of the park around her made her seem to glow like an angel. When he glanced up to address the real thing he couldn't help but give her a small, half smile.

"Well done."

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Just Think About It**

 **A/N:** So here is the second half of that too long chapter. I wanted to have it done in time to wish my neighbours to the South a Happy Thanksgiving. But I have wondered, don't you find it to take place too close to Christmas? It is less than a month away. In Canada we celebrate it in mid October, which helps to space out the turkey dinners nicely I think. It may be closer to Hallowe'en but since that is a different kind of holiday I don't think they impose on one another at all.

This is the end of the first case in this story and I'm sorry it wasn't scary. I wanted to ease into it, and figured that they shouldn't all be the same kind of case. I do have some very dangerous and frightening cases in mind, but first there will be some more everyday problems to address before that happens.

But tell me, are things moving too slowly? Am I focussing too much on little details? So far this story has not been very popular and I want to know if I should rethink my approach.

Thank you again to my regular reviewers, you know who you are. Your support means a lot to me.

Looking forward to your thoughts,

Thanks for reading,

S.


	8. Misplaced Blame

**Misplaced Blame**

* * *

They had returned to the office in a burst of colour, noise and energy to drop off the bushel of roses and the case files, only to find a surprised looking Yasuhara still present at his desk. Naru almost immediately requested tea, causing Mai to roll her eyes good-naturedly before depositing the roses on her desk and doing as he asked, chirping a cheery greeting to her friend and co-worker as she went.

On their way down the hall to SPR, Mai had tripped over her own feet nearly sending herself flying, flowers and all. Naru had been too far from her to do much more than watch the carnage unfold. Luckily, Mai somehow managed to catch herself, getting her feet back underneath her and catching the few roses that had already become airborne, narrowly avoiding a complete disaster.

The spike in her adrenaline and already high spirits caused Mai to burst into laughter. She staggered a couple steps in her mirth before pausing long enough for her boss to pass by, sending her a heavy eye roll and a scoff of exasperation to hide the humour he found in her antics. He muttered something about her being a clumsy fool before he opened the door to allow the still giggling Mai into the office.

He immediately caught sight of Yasuhara, and was surprised to realize just how disappointed he was that their mini case had come to an end. Recognizing that he would have to switch gears to save face in front of the others, Naru sent Mai to prepare his favourite beverage. She caused him to be far more expressive than his demeanour would typically allow, so he needed to remove her from the equation if he was going to stand up to the mischief he could see brewing behind his researcher's spectacles.

"Welcome back Big Boss, I take it the case is going well?" Naru found Yasu's ever-present, diplomatic smile to be unnerving when used against him, but brushed it off.

"The case is closed, actually. We have only returned for a short debriefing. Tomorrow I will return the roses and retrieve our equipment from the Clients during business hours while Mai will be taking the day off." There, no need for further interaction. Now he could safely escape to the confines of his office- which he did, firmly shutting the door behind him.

The door had just clicked shut in time for Lin's office door to pop open. Lin peaked his head out to scan the common area. Yasuhara liked to imagine that he seemed a little surprised to find the recently returned investigators absent, and he might have been right, because the next thing the Onmyouji did was raise a questioning eyebrow in his direction.

Yasuhara continued the silent exchange by using both hands to point at the main office and the kitchenette simultaneously. They were saved from having to keep it up by a happy Mai returning to the room, tea tray in hand.

"How was your day, Mai-chan?" Yasu asked as he accepted a cup of herbal tea.

"It was great! We sorted out the case pretty quickly, then Naru bought me lunch. After that, I got to play with flowers all afternoon! We managed to get the ghost to move on without too much hassle almost an hour ago. So here we are, case closed!" It was clear that Mai was in a particularly bubbly mood as she practically floated over to Lin to deliver him a tea as well. "How were things here?"

"Mai!" An impatient sounding Naru interrupted their small talk from within his office.

"Oops! better not keep him waiting." And with that, she too disappeared behind his office door.

Left in her wake, Lin and Yasu made eye contact to share a smirk before going back to their studies.

* * *

Inside the dim office, Mai and her Employer sat across from one another sipping tea.

"Today you efficiently used various avenues to gather all the information necessary to correctly identify the cause of the problem, and chose the best course of action to safely neutralize it. Good work." Praise delivered with almost unnerving calm was still praise to Mai. She tried hard not to show how pleased his words had made her; failing miserably, of course.

"I actually had a lot of fun today. The case was so _easy_ compared to everything we've been up against so far, that it hardly even felt like a case at all." She refused to mention what their activities today actually _did_ feel like. Just thinking about it made her heart race.

Oliver considered her words. It was true that the majority of her exposure to the Paranormal had all occurred during some of the most intense cases that he had ever come across. Throughout his first stay in Japan, he had only accepted cases that were too intriguing to ignore. This resulted in some pretty terrifying experiences for his team; who always managed to exceed his expectations by rising to meet each strange and unusual challenge they found themselves faced with. Mai had never been given a chance at a run-of-the-mill haunting before, and he felt some pride at the fact that his former assistant; who used to have trouble identifying even the most basic recording equipment, could now start and finish a basic case in one day. Not that he was going to tell her that.

"I have an assignment for you. I would like for you to do a write up on each psychic episode you had today and how each event contributed to completing the case. You will have the day off tomorrow but I expect you to have it finished by the time you complete your shift on Monday. Understood?" Naru had decided that after the pleasantness of their day together his frayed emotional control couldn't take much more of the bashfully blushing Mai and felt that it was time to send her home.

" W-what? Since when do you assign me homework?" She had choked on her tea at his unexpected request.

"Are you so stupid that you can't remember the conversation we had not sixteen hours ago in this very location?" He calmly observed her disgruntled expression from over the edge of his cup.

"…" Mai held a finger to her chin while mulling over his clue and seemed to be connecting a series of dots in her head. "Ne, Naru? Has this whole case been some sort of a test or something?"

"Mai, I've already told you that your abilities are advancing and need to be monitored. If you don't want to be another victim of uncontrolled psychic abilities then I suggest that you take the tasks I assign to you seriously." His explanation changed Mai's attitude from indignant to somber.

"Do you think that I might become dangerous?" She asked this in a small voice, forcing Naru to look directly into her bright doe eyes in order to curb her concerns before her imagination could spiral out of control.

"I never said that. All we know is that some of the abilities that you have displayed in the past are extremely rare and complex; not to mention require a good deal of power. I am going to need you to try to be more forthcoming with any dreams or visions you may experience from here on out, whether we are on a case or not. I would also like you to tell me if you start to experience anything new." He paused to allow his words to sink in, and to continue sipping tea.

Mai struggled to process this information. Rare and complex? What does he mean by 'a good deal of power'? There were too many questions passing through her mind too quickly, so she settled on the last one to occur to her.

"New experiences?" She wondered weakly. Oliver had to clear his throat before he could elaborate.

"Post cognitive dreams and astral projection both tend to coincide with related abilities that have yet to present themselves to us in you. Due to your highly suggestible nature, I am not going to explain to you what they are." There was a teasing edge to his voice when he talked about how suggestible she was, hoping to distract her from how uncomfortable he was discussing something that was so personal about her.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" She did _not_ appreciate his tone. Naru mentally rolled his eyes.

"It _means_ that your mind is so easily influenced by your environment, that the mere mention of something else being likely to manifest is enough to cause your progressing psyche to use the suggestion to develop in that way." He levelled a look at her that led her to believe he doubted that she understood what he was saying. Which wasn't entirely misplaced. Mai figured she got the gist of what he was saying, at least it didn't sound _insulting_ anyway.

"So you want me to tell you whenever something weird happens?" She couldn't help the tiny smile that was trying to make its appearance on her face. This was potentially a good excuse that she could use to bother him.

Oliver's gut clenched at the sight of the mischievous twinkle in her eyes and the cheeky grin she was trying to suppress.

"Unfortunately, yes. Now assemble Yasuhara and your things. it's late." He rose from his seat before Mai could protest but that didn't stop her from trying.

"But don't we still have to report to Sakura-san tomorrow? And I already told you, I can get home by myself!" Naru just kept walking towards the common area, forcing her to follow him in order to still be heard. Instead of responding he addressed the part-time Researcher.

"Yaruhara, why are you still here? Your shift ended hours ago." He then turned to his Junior Investigator "I won't be needing your assistance to check in with our Client. Use tomorrow to work on your assignments like I told you to." She huffed but turned and started to gather her belongings anyway, too tired now to argue with him properly.

"Sorry Big Boss, I decided to take advantage of the quiet to get a little studying done and must have lost track of time." He too began to pack up his laptop and text books. Naru watched him while leaning back against the wall next to his office door and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Well since you are finished, please see Mai to her building, it is late." This caused Mai to shriek in frustration from where she was putting the freshly washed thermos away in the kitchenette.

"Naru! I mean it! I don't need a babysitter!" She declared while stomping her way back into the common room. Yasuhara decided to once again intervene before the argument could begin in earnest.

"It _is_ later than usual, Mai. It wouldn't hurt having a little company on the way home, would it? Besides, do you _really_ want me to be drawing my own conclusions about why you currently have a mountain of roses on your desk?" His larger than usual smile made Mai shudder. She knew her friend's imagination to be wilder than most… _and_ a little perverted, so no, she did _not_ want to let him draw any of his own conclusions. She sighed in defeat.

"Fine, Yasu. I will tell you about it on the way." She slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and followed the victorious looking College student to the door.

"Perfect. See you tomorrow Big Boss." He waved his hand over his shoulder as he left the office. Mai paused at the door before looking back to catch the eyes of her silent employer, who still stood leaning against the wall.

Oliver watched her pause with curiosity, as she seemed to consider what to say. Finally her expression melted back into that of her usual warm smile, while her eyes continued to give him the impression that they could see more than they aught to.

"Good night, Naru." Was all she said before closing the door behind her, but the words were delivered with such warmth and affection that he felt as though he just drank a whole cup of her tea in one gulp. He was still staring at where she had been standing when Lin came out of his office.

"You were gone a while." Snapping out of his daze, turned to his Assistant.

"The case was solved by lunch, the only reason it took so long was because Mai wanted to confront the Spirit herself before it completed its bi-weekly cycle, which didn't start until after the shop was closed."

"Why didn't you just come back to the office until then?"

"I didn't see the point. I accomplished as much from there as I would have here." At this point the young scientist had turned away and was now examining one of the roses from Mai's desk. Lin paused in his questioning as he took in his charge's behaviour.

"How did she do?" This question made Oliver look up again.

"It was, impressive. It was almost as though as quickly as the questions would come to her, her ESP would provide her with an answer, or at least a clue. Like I said we had all the facts we needed by lunch. I had thought that up until this point, that maybe her reactions were only as strong as the activity we were investigating, but clearly this is not the case." He put down the rose and went to retrieve his coat, while Lin began shutting off the lights before doing the same.

"Do you think she is ready for testing?" He asked while fiddling with his keys to lock the door behind them, Naru waiting for him in the hall.

"Not yet. She is still skittish when I try to ask her for more details." Lin considered his words as they walked down the hall.

"Could that be because she is reluctant to discuss Gene?" Noll had told Lin about how Eugene had been visiting Mai in her dreams since their very first case together. This information had both baffled and enraged Lin. Why hadn't he told her who he was and where to find him? It would have saved him _months_ of Japanese interactions. But in hind sight, as he considered the young man walking next to him, maybe their time in Japan had ended up being the best medicine for the remaining twin. The formerly socially unavailable teenager now had a respectable number of friends for the first time ever. At least one of those friends was empathetic enough to be reluctant to bring up his dead sibling.

Naru was flashing back to a Mai sobbing her regret at never having had the chance to properly thank his brother, at mistaking Gene for himself. His mind started to run-through the over-visited memory of her telling him how she had wished that the Naru from reality would behave like the Naru from her dreams. He closed his eyes and tried to force the painful thoughts from his mind.

"Probably." He finally responded gruffly as they exited the building and entered the night.

* * *

Sunday passed peacefully for Mai. She woke up from an uninterrupted sleep to find that she was still over the moon from her wonderful experience the day before. After getting some laundry done at the laundramat, she settled herself in at her family's old Kotatsu; one of the only pieces of furniture she owned, and started in on her assignments. Since she struggled with keeping her head out of the clouds, her homework took her longer than it should have. But Naru had so generously awarded her the day off, allowing her more time to day-dream than usual.

Now it was Monday morning and although she was all caught up on her studies, house work and even her assignment from her workaholic boss, she couldn't manage to shake off the sinking feeling that was settling into the pit of her stomach. She knew that her bright and shiny mood from Saturday wouldn't last forever but this was different, something was amiss.

The overcast skies seemed to be trying to warn her about more than just the weather, as she walked through the gates of the school only to be met with furtive glances and whispers. The feeling of dread only intensified when she found her two best friends waiting for her by her shoe cubby with anxious expressions on their faces.

"What's going on?" She asked before switching out of her shoes, nervous about their response.

"Didn't you hear? The Baseball team lost on Friday, badly." Michiru gravely answered as though she was breaking some terrible news. Mai raised an eyebrow and started leading the way to class.

"Oh? That's too bad, I guess. Why are you guys acting like it's the end of the world?" Her friends shared a wary glance before trying to elaborate.

"Well, Taku-san is the starting pitcher on the team, and he performed terribly before the coach finally pulled him in the sixth inning. But by then it was already too late, they were way behind in the score and lost the game anyway… but that's not what has us so worried." Kieko trailed off at this point, looking unsure about how to continue, so Michiru took over once more.

"Taku-san is furious, and has been telling everyone that it was _your_ fault for ruining his game by embarrassing him in front of everybody at lunch! He and his whole team have been saying awful things about you Mai-chan, we are worried that they are going to try something!" By now they had reached the top of the stairs but were stopped from continuing on their way by a shout from the floor below.

"See you later, Taniyama." Mai peered over the railing to see four or five scowling members of the baseball team, headed up by none other than a very menacing looking Taku, who held her gaze before continuing his way down the hall.

At first Mai had been ready to tell her friends that they worry too much and that he would get over it eventually. But now, she thought that they were right to be nervous. The words he shouted to her were innocent enough, but the way he said her name and the unreasonably sinister look in his eyes made the blood drain from her face.

She shared a weary look with her distressed companions.

"Come on, lets get to class."

* * *

Morning classes passed by without incident, and Mai took the opportunity to strategize a way to avoid the vengeful athletes. Maybe with a little more time they would cool off and move on, she would just have to be sure to stay out of the way until then. In order to do that, she would try to spend her free time in places she normally wouldn't, so he has a harder time tracking her down. Today her and her friends decided that they would spend their lunch in the science lab. This way they could get a jump on their science projects and since the biology club often met at lunch, it was likely that a teacher would be present in the off chance that he did manage to find her.

And find her he did. Lunch break was nearly over and the girls had relaxed enough to be able to joke around with one another; thinking that their wonderful plan had worked, when suddenly Kieko gave a startled gasp with her wide eyes fixed on the doorway. Mai and Michiru both swivelled in their seats to see a stone faced Taku just standing there, watching them. The science teacher must have noticed the sharp change of atmosphere from their corner of the room and followed their gazes to see the star athlete standing at the door.

"Was there something you needed, Yoshida-san?" The teacher asked.

"No." Was his simple response, his eyes never leaving Mai. The teacher seemed puzzled.

"Well, remember that your assignment from last week is still late, I want to see it on my desk by tomorrow." Before going back to helping some students with a model they were making.

Taku's eyes narrowed slightly before disappearing down the hall. Mai simultaneously released a breath; that she didn't realize that she had been holding, with her two equally as relieved friends. They decided to wait until the very last minute before making the mad dash to their next class, and they were rewarded with mostly empty hallways on the way there.

Mai's next plan of action was to run like the wind when the bell rang at the end of the day, to try to make it off of school property before he even makes it out of class. This plan would have worked, had he not been anticipating it.

* * *

The bell had rang and Mai flew out the door, leaving only clouds of dust in her wake. She had made it to her shoes and out the gate without any sign of him. She was almost ready to celebrate as she turned a corner and started to slow down when something caught her backpack, nearly jerking her off her feet and swinging her around another corner into a narrow alleyway. She called out in surprise but was cut off by a swift punch to the stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of her and dropping her to her knees. Shocked by the swift change of events, all Mai could do was double over and clutch her stomach, while desperately trying to fill her uncooperative lungs with air once more.

"Finally, we have a chance to chat." Said the voice she had been dreading to hear, towering over her crumpled form. He tightly gripped the front of her uniform and used it to forcefully jerk her upwards and slam her back against the cement wall behind her, managing to knock out what little air she had recovered. He tightly twisted his fingers in the front her blouse, lifting it up as he pinned it to the wall over her shoulder with his fist to keep her in place. With her tender mid-drift now exposed, she was feeling more vulnerable then she could ever remember. The time that Urado's henchmen got their hands on her came close, but she had been too terrified at the time to feel vulnerable.

Now she was without her team, without her friends and without a plan for escape.

"I told you that you would regret your words, you stupid little bitch! So here I am to make sure that you do." He raked her body with his eyes, before allowing his free hand to roughly roam from her bare waist up to her ribs and over her breast, squeezing it tightly; causing her to whine in pain and violation, before his hand continued to its final destination wrapped firmly around her throat.

"You told me you would rather choke, right?" He slowly began to tighten his grip.

Mai had to think fast. She knew she would lose to him in a battle of strength, but if she could shock him…

She collected as much saliva in her mouth as she could and stared up at him defiantly before spitting directly into his eyes.

He jumped back in shock and disgust, his face growing splotchy from anger as he wiped her spit from his furious eyes. Mai jumped on her reclaimed freedom and used the new space between them to wind up and kick him between the legs as hard as she could. He quickly turned green after crumpling to the ground, but Mai did not stick around to find out what happened next. As she staggered from the alley, a couple more of his team mates came around the corner and shouted out as they spotted her. Mai's self preservation kicked in to high gear, giving her the strength she needed to ignore her aching body and run like the wind. Some of the guys followed her for a few blocks before she finally managed to shake them by ducking into a women's clothing shop when she knew she was out of view, and hiding out in a change room while she tried to regain her composure. She was going to be late for work.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Just Think About It**

 **A/N:** Sorry folks, it has been a wild couple of months but I will not bore you with the details.

So I did not realize it at the time, but there was a chapter in between the last one and 'Just Think About It' and here it is! I am sorry if it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I really appreciate all the reviews especially the ones from Aline and Kelly, a little encouragement and suggestion for improvement really helped me out.

I hope you enjoyed it,

Until next time,

 **S**.


	9. Just Think About It

**Just think about it**

Sunday was full of atypical decision making for Oliver; all of which were unanticipated by the young scientist, making the occurrences even more noteworthy. It started while he was brushing his teeth that morning, leaning back against the edge of the sink, his wet hair dripping on his bare shoulders as he stared off into space. He had been thinking about his pending search for a more permanent residence in Japan.

During his first stay in the country, he and Lin had gotten adjourning hotel rooms for the duration of their 'visit'. But now that he had returned with a different purpose he wanted to pull the trigger and get an apartment. Lin had seemed to agree with the idea, but Noll knew that Lin would prefer to have his own place.

He spun on his heel and peevishly spat out some tooth paste before returning to brushing his teeth, perhaps slightly too vigorously. Unfortunately, due to the lack of trust both Lin and his parents have for him to be able to properly care for himself, he was not _allowed_ to live on his own. Brushing that insult aside, he refocused on his need to begin hunting for a two bedroom apartment in Japan.

As he finally rinsed his mouth and put his tooth brush away he caught a glimpse of his own pale, lean form in the mirror and made eye contact with himself. Some of his rebellious feelings from his family's lack of faith must have still remained, because in that moment he decided that he would lease a car of his own. It would provide him with another avenue of independence that he so craved, and that way he wouldn't have to take the large and unwieldily van every time he wanted to go somewhere. Parking in Japan was hard enough without having an oversized vehicle.

This new decision felt right as he left the washroom while buttoning up one of his usual black shirts, and he planned on crunching some numbers as he ate a quick breakfast before work to determine what he would be able to afford.

* * *

Once at work, he gathered all the things he would need to bring to the Florists even though they wouldn't be open for another couple of hours. He intended on visiting a couple of dealerships before hand, now that he knew exactly what kind of a car he was looking for. Being a Sunday he would only sit in a few and pick out his favourite deals, then cross reference some reviews of the different models in question online before returning on Monday to make his purchase.

When his perusing of vehicles was over with, he was just in time for the opening of the flower shop at noon. He retrieved the roses from a cool dark spot in the van and returned them to a delighted and grateful store owner. She expressed her disappointment at not being able to thank Mai personally and asked him to pass on her gratitude for her as he was handing over the reclaimed roses.

This is when the next random decision occurred to him. Before he really thought it through, he had requested to purchase two dozen of the very roses he'd just handed over.

Delighted, Tanaka Sakura refused payment and allowed him to choose whichever ones he wanted. He tried to ignore her too large, knowing smile as he chose a representation of the completely random sizes and colours of flowers. The variety seemed to have delighted Mai, and he found himself eager to hear her reaction to finding them in a vase on her desk at work on Monday.

He thanked the kind, old woman who had handed him a cheque once he had retrieved what was left of their equipment before waving a cheery goodbye as he turned and left the shop, flowers in hand. She did well on the case, he'd thought to himself, and had been making a solid effort to be on time and office appropriate lately, so he would't have to defend his actions too much. Why he was justifying it to _himself_ was another question entirely, that he decided would be better to cast away without investigating too closely.

* * *

Later in his office, after he had watered and arranged Mai's flowers on her desk; completely ignoring Yasuhara's wide-eyed stare from across the room while he did so, Naru sat in the dark typing up the beginning of what was to be his notes on Mai's psychic progression. Hours passed as he summarized what he knew of her passed paranormal reactions and outlined questions to ask her for further details while he sifted through old case files. It was late before he decided to pause and scan his work so far. Upon reviewing his words, he found them to be overly appreciative. His next unexpected decision was to _never_ show these notes to _anyone_ , before he hid them in a deceivingly named file on his documents list.

* * *

Monday morning Naru was ready to sign a deal to lease his new, standard, two door, black car with tinted windows. He didn't want something that would invite too many unwanted passengers (the noisy Monk and Matsuzaki came to mind) but something that could fit a second or third passenger if necessary, all they would have to do is crawl in behind the front passenger seat that easily folded forward and out of the way. The drivers seat did the same, obviously, but he wasn't going to let the others know that.

Even having spent a good portion of the morning out on a joy ride in his new car, the wait for Mai's shift to start seemed to take longer than usual. He continued working on the final touches of his latest thesis before moving on to his studies of Mai's numerous and varying abilities. It was taking longer and filling way more pages than he expected it to, and he hadn't even began testing her yet. If things kept up like this he might have enough new information write a paper on his findings, or even start a new thesis. He received a small thrill of excitement at the prospect and immediately tried to suppress it, he didn't want to get a head of himself.

A quick glance at the clock told him that Mai's streak of punctuality had come to an end, and with a heavy sigh he mentally prepared a lecture for when she finally turned up.

Naru heard Mai enter the office around quarter after four, making her sufficiently late for work. She was probably trying to sneak in undetected, because she did not shout her usual greeting to them. He decided to catch her in the act and use this opportunity to give her a hard time, so he finally stood from his desk and smoothed out his rumpled slacks before exiting his dim office and headed for the kitchenette where he was sure to find his former assistant.

When he rounded the corner he saw the kettle on the stove and her hunched over the counter with her back to him, her hands tightly gripping its edge. He leaned casually against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest and let the haranguing begin.

"You're late, Mai." He let the sound of accusation seep into his voice, mildly eager to see whether she would go with defensive or apologetic with her response. Needless to say he was surprised when she didn't turn around but instead hung her head a little lower and trembled slightly before responding.

"I know, Naru. I get it, I'm so stupid. I just need a minute okay? I will bring you your tea when it's ready." Her voice trembled with self-deprecation and she sounded to be on the brink of tears.

Naru's heart dropped into his stomach and he changed gears immediately. Uncrossing his arms and pulling away from the door frame, he was feeling wrong footed as he made to approach her .

"What happened?" He could detect the worry in his own voice but didn't bother to mask it because it was only Mai, and it was okay for her to know that he was concerned. Especially at a time like this. But he only received a shaky intake of breath and a whimper for his trouble. "Turn around, Mai." he tried to keep his voice soft to let her know it was alright to do so, and took another step towards her.

He saw her shoulders tense for a moment, and he thought that maybe she would deny his request, but finally she relaxed her grip on the counter and slowly allowed herself to turn around. Her face wore the most heartbreaking expression, her large cinnamon eyes were wide and brimming with tears, her cheeks were flushed and her full lower lip trembled sadly. He felt his heart squeeze painfully as he let his eyes wander over her person to look for further clues as to what had happened to his employee. Her hair was slightly mussed and the blouse of her uniform had a tear around the collar and looked very rumpled, but it was her torn up knees and a still red hand print around her throat that had him seeing red.

"Who did this to you?" His voice had dropped into a very menacing calm as his jaw clenched and his eyes hardened, which must have been hard for Mai to take in at the moment, for she dropped her gaze to her feet. To try to take her off the spot and let her answer in her own time, he busied himself by fetching the first aid kit from the cupboard.

"It was the same boy from Friday." She finally responded quietly. The kettle had begun to whistle and before she could reach for it, Naru turned off the burner and set the kettle aside so it would quiet down.

"And just _what_ was his justification this time?" He was trying not to shake with rage. She still hadn't given him a name, and considering her forgiving nature, he didn't want to give her a reason not to. So he decided to pour her a cup of tea himself to mask his impatience for information.

Mai watched him work and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve.

"He lost his game on Friday." At this answer Naru stopped what he was doing to shoot her a deadpanned expression which earned a watery giggle from Mai. "I know right? As if that is my fault. I guess all that matters is that he seems to think so." Naru put the completed cup of tea on the counter next to her and then gently placed his hands around her small waist. The high-schooler turned bright red and looked up at him questioningly.

"I am going to clean up your knees, alright?" He explained, to which she meekly nodded her consent. He gripped her waist more firmly before lifting her up and back so that she was sitting on the counter. The extra pressure on her tender ribs caused her to wince in pain, which did not go unnoticed.

"That's it, I am calling Matsuzaki." He turned to get the phone but was stopped by a tug on his sleeve.

"No! Naru, Please!" She begged, as he turned to give her an incredulous look. "Please don't tell everyone, I'm so embarrassed, _please_ can we keep this just between you and me?"

"What do you have to be embarrassed about? This is something that happened _to_ you-" He tried to explain before she cut him off.

"I know, I know! I just… I just don't want to cause a fuss. I won't be able to handle it." She stared at him pleadingly, with tears pooling in her eyes once more.

He released a heavy sigh because he obviously wasn't going to be able to deny her at this point.

"Fine. But once I am done with your knees I am going to have to check your ribs." He left no room for argument as he began to dampen a clean dish rag with warm water to clean her knees with.

"Check my ribs for what?" The prospect of letting Naru look at her ribs made her flush again, and wanted to know why it was so necessary.

"We need to be sure that you haven't cracked any, and check for serious bruising." He nudged the forgotten cup of tea in her direction and proceeded to gently clean the dirt out of her scrapped knees. "Now, are you going to tell me what he did, or not?"

Mai took a long sip of tea that seemed to calm her nerves, giving her time to think about how she wanted to answer. She figured that the truth would be her best option, seeing as she was terrible liar and Naru was a professional investigator.

"He punched me in the stomach." She started suddenly, causing Naru to pause before continuing with his work. "Then he picked me up and threw me into the wall, where he pinned me with the front of my shirt. Then he… he grabbed my throat and began to squeeze." At this point, Naru was putting polysporin on the pads of two bandages and securing them to her tender knees. She hadn't even realized that she'd hurt them until he mentioned it. Her heart warmed at his gentle fussing, doing so much more to repair the damage done to her than he realized. She continued sipping the soothing beverage.

Once he finished dressing her knees, he straightened up to look at her directly.

"And then?"

"And then I spit in his eyes and kicked him between the legs! But then some of his team mates found us and I had to run and hide. Am I all done?" He gave her a small crooked smirk; proud of her ability to escape, and held out a hand to help steady her as she gingerly slipped off the counter top and onto her feet.

"I still have to check your ribs. Do you want to do that here or in the washroom?"

"Do we have to?"

"Yes. Unless you are willing to let Matsuzaki take a look at them…"

"No! Fine, maybe we should do this in the washroom." She awkwardly crouched down; trying not to strain her achy ribs, as she picked up her backpack that she had left near the doorway before heading for the bathroom. Ayako and Bou-san were likely to turn up on Mondays, and it would not do for them to walk in on Naru giving her ribs cage extra attention. Especialy if she wanted to keep her assault quiet.

As Naru watched Mai head for the washroom, he considered changing his mind and demanding that she tell the others what happened and let Ayako fix her up properly. It wasn't that he didn't know what he was doing; there were plenty of times that he had to patch up his brother after a fight, their martial arts training led to many a bruised rib. It was that now, he had to close himself up in the washroom with Mai and touch her bare torso, which under the right circumstances would have been great, but to do so because some _dirtbag_ roughed her up wasn't how he hoped a moment like this would go. Remembering this so-far-nameless-scum gave Naru renewed purpose as he finally moved from his spot in the middle of the kitchen to follow her. He was going to use this excuse for skin to skin contact to get a clearer picture of what she experienced and just who this bastard really is.

He entered the washroom to find Mai standing there awkwardly in the middle of the room. Shutting the door behind him he took control of the situation.

"Let's start with where he punched you. Would you show me?" He tried to remember to be considerate of her feelings. She had just been attacked after all. But the ever resilient Mai didn't seem to concerned about showing him her mid-drift, for she bunched up her shirt in her hands just beneath her breasts, showing the beginnings of an oval shaped bruise forming right over her solar-plexus.

Naru remained stone faced as he inspected the damage.

"I'm going to need to touch it to check for internal bleeding, all that means is that I am going to roll my hand over the affected area to check for any lumps that shouldn't be there. Alright?"

Mai tried not to burst into flames under his scrutiny, and managed a small "Alright." in response. His hands on the skin of her stomach sent electricity shooting down to the tips of her toes, as he slid his hand across her tender abs, gently prodding as he went along.

"It doesn't look like you have any serious internal damage, but you are going to be sore for a few days. Now let me check your back. Turn around." Once Mai's eyes were finally off him, he allowed himself to let out the breath that he had been holding. Her skin had been terribly soft, and he'd had a difficult time staying focused. Now that she was turned around, and he had more surface area that needed checking, he could use his psychometery to catch glimpses of her altercation and hopefully the face of the loser who was about to learn a painful lesson.

Naru gently raised the back of her shirt, and continued to lift it until all of her bruise was showing. Unfortunately for both of them, this required exposing the back of Mai's turquoise bra. Mai was beet red with embarrassment but thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't wearing one of her laundry day bras that had silly animal patterns on them or something.

"I'm going to need you to hold this in place here." Mai crossed her arms over her chest and held the back of her shirt up over her shoulders and out of Naru's way.

"Okay, I want you to tell me whenever I touch something particularly tender." He instructed, before his long agile fingers started slowly prodding along each rib.

"Wow Naru, are you _sure_ you're not a _medical_ doctor?" Mai said with a nervous giggle, as Naru rolled his eyes at her silly question. Though he was just glad that she was starting to sound back to normal.

"Yes I'm sure, Mai." He started picking up bits and pieces of a scene in an alleyway and glimpses of an athletic teenaged boy with messy brown hair and angry eyes.

"Well how do you know all this stuff then?" Mai wanted to keep the conversation going to distract herself from how close he was getting to the clasp of her bra.

"Experience." Naru was trying to keep the conversation to a minimum so that he could focus on his vision. He ended up pushing a little too hard when he got to the part where this asshole decided to grope her, and received a hiss of pain from his patient.

"Ouch, that one really hurt." he came back to the present for a moment to focus on the sore rib just three ribs below her shoulder blades, which were also bruised.

"Take a deep breath for me." Which she did, without much complaint of pain and Naru didn't feel anything moving in a way that it shouldn't. He determined that nothing was broken or cracked so she didn't need her ribs wrapped, but he had yet to get the name he was looking for. So he spent the next few moments pretending to be checking until he saw the moment Mai began to run, and heard some of the idiots who found their team mate on the ground of the alley call his name. 'Taku!' and 'Yoshida!' coming from two different people.

Satisfied that he retrieved the information that he was looking for, he began to pull away, his fingertips lingering on the warmth of her skin when they heard the bell of the front door ring as it opened to let in some very familiar loud voices. Great.

"Nothing is broken but you have some deep bruises. No heavy lifting or fighting with baseball players for awhile." Mai had tensed up at the sounds of her friends calling her name and speculating on whether or not she was running late again, before popping back into motion as she felt his hands finally drop away from her back. She dropped her shirt back down and turned to face him.

"You're not going to tell them, are you?" She misinterpreted his far away look for considering reneging on his promise. Her question brought his focus back to her.

"I won't, but I still don't understand why. Besides, you are going to have a difficult time explaining what happened to your clothes and your knees." He turned around and placed his hand on the door knob before turning to look at her over his shoulder. "Or explaining just why we were in here together in the first place."

Mai gave a nervous laugh.

"Well I brought another office outfit today which thankfully will cover my knees. And I don't want to tell them because if I do, I will have to relive it all over again when I just started feeling better. Not to mention how angry they will be, and then they will try to get involved, and if they tell the school it will become a he said she said situation where I won't have any allied witnesses and will be going up against one of the schools star athletes. I need to find a different way out of this, or hope that he slips up in the presence of a teacher or something." She looked sad again and Naru felt compelled to reassure her.

"Don't worry Mai. We will fix this." The menacing expression on his face made Mai wonder what he meant by that, but before she could ask he left the room.

* * *

Outside the washroom, four sets of inquisitive eyes were direct at the brooding teen who had just firmly closed the washroom door behind him.

"Hey Naru-bou, is Jou-chan not here yet?" The monk asked as he made himself comfortable in his usual spot.

*Tsk* "I _thought,_ she was going to start trying harder to be on time." huffed Ayako, as she finished hanging her things from the coat tree to turn around and cross her arms over her chest, tapping her finger on the crook of her elbow in disapproval.

"Since when do you care whether or not Mai is on time?" Monk replied in amusement.

"Since I wanted to hear how her case went on the weekend. It must have been a dud since they didn't call me." She waved a hand in the air with an air of self-importance, a smug expression on her face.

"Apparently Mai-chan had the whole thing sorted out by lunch, right big Boss?" Yasuhara was already typing away at his desk by this point, and managed to bring the groups attention back to their employer who had been using their idle chatter to try to quietly slip into his office. He had made it to the door before being addressed by his part-time researcher.

"The case lacked any real danger. Your assistance was not needed." Was all he said before slamming his office door behind him.

"Oh! So you only involve us if there is a chance of someone getting hurt, is that it?!" Ayako shouted at the unresponsive office door.

"Now, now." Piped up John. "I think what Naru is saying is that the case was simple enough for the two of them to handle on their own. There's no need to involve everyone if it's an open and shut case."

Ayako had rolled her eyes and muttered a _'Whatever.'_ when the washroom door opened once more, revealing Mai dressed in slim white pants and black, long-sleeved turtleneck. A stunned silence greeted her.

"Hi everyone! Your usual drinks today?" She asked with a too large smile, as she made her way over to the kitchenette.

"I'll have a green tea today Mai, if you don't mind." John spoke up, getting a nod from Mai before she disappeared behind the wall and rousing the rest of the group back into motion. They all shot glances at one another, to see if they weren't the only ones thinking it.

"Er, does anyone else remember _Naru_ coming out of there just a few moments ago?" Ayako asked the group.

"I do believe that's what happened." Yasu replied sounding mystified.

"Just _what_ would he be doing in a closed washroom with Jou-chan?" Evidently, Monk's blood was beginning to boil.

"Hang on, lets not jump to conclusions. Maybe there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for them both to be in there at the same time."

"Oh yeah? Like what, John?" Monk didn't seem to be buying it.

"Well, why don't we just ask her?" John was beginning to sweat under the intensity of Bou-san's glare and was relieved when the girl in question re-entered the room with a tray of drinks.

"Here ya go!" She cheerfully chirped as she began handing out beverages to her friends. From the looks on their faces, she knew she had some explaining to do. She gave Monk his last since he looked to be the most disgruntled and was therefore the one most likely to question her. She wasn't wrong.

"Just why would both you and Naru be closed up in the washroom together, Jou-chan?" He asked in his most disapproving fatherly tone. Being treated like a daughter warmed her heart a little, helping to combat the embarrassment she was feeling at the implications of the question. Luckily she had been working on her excuse while she was in the kitchen.

"Oh, well I had accidentally dropped an earring down the sink drain and asked him to help me retrieve it." She answered innocently enough, while rearranging the cups left on her tray.

"I didn't know Naru was any good with plumbing." Ayako said skeptically.

"I don't know if he is either, since it was such a small object and not very far away he used a little PK to get it back."

"I still don't see why the door had to be closed for him to help you." Monk didn't seem ready to let it go yet.

"Well Lin-san doesn't like him to use it; no matter how little he uses, so I think he closed the door incase Lin-san came out at just the wrong time." Monk seemed to roll this explanation over in his mind before finally conceding.

"Okay Jou-chan, I believe you." Mai mentally sighed in relief.

"Good, then I can finish delivering this tea." And she did so by first stopping off in Lin's office and visiting Naru's next. She didn't want to linger there too long since the group was already a little suspicious of them so she just shot him an appreciative smile for keeping his promise before quickly leaving the room.

Finally heading towards her desk she stopped and gasped in surprise. There in a vase was over twenty roses of various colours and sizes, just like the ones from their case.

"Are you only seeing those for the first time Mai-chan? Big boss put those on your desk yesterday." This had been a moment that Yasu was waiting for ever since he saw the undemonstrative employer arrange them.

"What!?" Ayako gasped, jumping up from her seat to get a closer look.

"Well that was awfully nice of him." Commented John, as he kneeled in his spot on the couch to peer over the back of it at the bright bouquet. Seeing it now, he wasn't sure how he missed it when they first came in.

"So those _are_ from him." Apparently Monk had managed to spot them before hand.

"What a strange arrangement." Ayako commented while appraising each bloom.

"Well, it had to do with our case on the weekend. The ghost was stealing all the roses, so when we convinced him to move on we were left with a couple hundred different roses in every colour." Mai explained as she traced the petals of a red one gently, her eyes held a dreamy glaze. "I guess he asked to let me keep some."

"Aww, well isn't that sweet!" Teased Yasuhara.

"Shut up, Yasu!" Defended Mai, as she fought off her signature fire-engine blush. She glared him down while the others laughed at her efforts.

* * *

The rest of her shift passed smoothly, and she was feeling less rattled from her altercation after school. The others had left hours before, after she had gone into further detail on her case at the flower shop, Yasu bringing up parts of the tale she had told him on Saturday that she had conveniently left out this time around. Afterwards, Naru had come out of his office to tell the others that 'this wasn't story time for toddlers' and sent them all away. A couple hours later, he poked his head out of his office door once more to request tea and told Mai to bring her assignment in with her.

She sighed, pressed send on an email and picked up her paper as the kettle whistled. With it tucked under her arm, she prepared them each a tea and then headed into darkness that was her boss' office after sunset. Thankfully, as she entered he turned on his desk lamp, illuminating the immediate area surrounding the desk.

"Thank you for my flowers." Mai found the courage to say. She couldn't not express her gratitude when he had done something so thoughtful.

Naru looked up at her from some document he had pulled up on his computer monitor. He seemed to be considering her words before he responded.

"You seemed to enjoy them and you did well on the case." As if those were the facts and that's all there is to it. He didn't leave room for her to continue, either.

"This is no time to be delaying the inevitable, Mai. Hand over your paper and lets see how poorly you did. I can only assume that your homework assignments are something like a disaster, if your organizational skills are anything to go by." He held out his hand, waiting for her to hand over her paper, with a hint of a smug smirk dancing on his lips in the dim lighting.

This immediately got Mai's back up, her cheeks puffing up briefly in indignation before her own smug smirk grew across her face.

"Here you go." As she cheerfully handed it over to a suddenly not so sure, Oliver. He eyed her suspiciously as he accepted the paper, finding no extra explanation in her features he glanced down at her work. His expression immediately went deadpan as he looked up at her once more.

"Mai, this is in kanji." He said as though she must have been extremely stupid. Mai just kept smiling, obviously pleased with herself.

"Yup! and if you are going to live in Japan you will have to get better at reading it, right?" His expression remained completely unimpressed. Having his short comings addressed was not his favourite.

"Sheesh, Naru. Relax! I emailed you a written out version too, incase you completely lacked a sense of humour. Which you clearly do." She still appeared to be having a laugh at his expense. While he secretly found her snarky sense of humour to be charming, he suddenly found himself feeling drained.

She sat there looking as care free as ever. You wouldn't have guessed that she had been threatened and assaulted earlier that day. But Naru hadn't gotten passed it as easily as she had, apparently. The combination of using his Psychometry and his stewing rage had left him worn out. He decided it would be better to do this some other time, his focus just wasn't what it should be.

"Fine. I will look these over tonight and we will discuss it tomorrow. If you have finished all your filing for tonight then gather your things. I will drive you home tonight." He set the paper aside, secretly looking forward to the opportunity to compare the two documents. His kanji _did_ need work. Not that he would admit it out loud to her.

"But Naru-" She was about to protest the need for an escort but was stopped dead by the cold look he was sending her way.

"Mai, _do not start_. Not today." He punctuated every word very sternly, his tone as icy as his glare. The combination of which seemed to drop the temperature of the room a few degrees.

"Okay." She replied meekly, and waited quietly as he downed his tea as though it were a stiff drink and rose from his seat. Mai made quick work of the dishes before collecting her things from behind her desk, pausing only for a moment to memorize her eclectic roses before meeting Naru at the door. She gave an exaggerated wave goodbye to Yasu who was still present and currently wearing a large set of headphones while he worked and then shouted a goodnight to Lin who was hidden behind his office door, as usual.

Naru led the way into the parking garage across the street to where the van could usually be found but didn't approach it. Instead he walked up to a shiny black, two door car with tinted windows that was parked next to it.

"Uhh, Naru? the van is right here." Mai looked concerned and sounded confused by his behaviour as she pointed to the van.

"I am aware of that Mai. We're not taking the van." Mai gasped in shock, causing her boss to quirk an eyebrow at her.

"Naru, we're not _stealing_ a car!" Looking scandalized and stage whispering her protest, Mai took a step forward as if she were preparing to physically intervene. Naru fought the urge to roll his eyes at her and responded by raising a key fob in his right hand and pressing the 'unlock' button, causing the car in question to lightly beep its consent.

Oliver did not fight the urge to smirk at Mai's open mouthed gape of disbelief as he continued to the drivers side door.

"Get in." He reminded her as he shut his own door and started the car. Recovering from her shock, Mai did as she was told, setting her backpack at her feet before buckling up. The inside was luxurious, not that Mai had been in a lot of cars, but compared to Bou-sans old beater of a car, this one was fancy.

"Naru, who's car is this?" She asked as he put the vehicle in reverse and began pulling out of the parking spot.

"I thought that would have been obvious." Was his only reply, as he began to focus on the task at hand. He knew Mai's address but he had never actually been there before, so he was finding his way after having looked up the directions on his phone while she was tidying the kitchen.

"Are you trying to say that this is _your_ car? Since when?" Mai was shocked, she never knew anyone so young who owned their own car, but she never knew someone so young to own their own business either. Until she met Naru.

"Since today. I don't want to strand Lin every time I have somewhere to go."

"Why don't you just take the train like the rest of us?" Mai continued her line of questioning as they pulled up to a red light, giving Oliver the opportunity to focus on answering her question.

"For a number of reasons. First of all, the woman who killed my brother is still out there somewhere and I don't want to be recognized. Second, people seem to think that I want their attention just because I'm attractive, so the more time I spend among the general public the more time I waste on meaningless, unsolicited interactions. And third, I don't like crowds." The light turned green the moment he finished his explanation, allowing him to continue on his way.

Mai sat quietly, processing what he said. It wasn't like him to be so candid, usually he would give a fraction of the truth and expect you to accept his reasoning and move on. Maybe she was starting to wear him down, since she was probably the only one stubborn enough to keep asking until his answers finally satisfied her curiosity. Except for maybe Madoka.

Mai was roused from her musings when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Naru was beginning to frown. Well, as much as Naru allows his face to wear expressions in calm situations, anyway.

"What's the matter?" She prompted, causing him to glance her way before continuing to scan the side of the road as they went along.

"I must have missed a turn somewhere, we seem to have ended up in an unsavoury neighbourhood." Mai took in their surroundings.

"No, you're going the right way. You'll need to take a right after these next two blocks, then my building will be the fifth one on the left." She directed before cheerfully continuing to watch the activity on the street wiz by.

Meanwhile, Naru was busy trying to identify the weight that just settled in his stomach. He was aware that living in Tokyo wasn't cheap, especially when you're a self-supporting minor. But Naru had always been sure to pay Mai a living wage, hoping that she would manage to live comfortably. So why did she live in such a seedy area?

He made the turn as directed and pulled over in front of a decidedly decrepit looking building. He gave Mai a speculative look, almost expecting her to shout 'Just kidding!' and give him directions to the right place, but she didn't. All she did was beam a radiant smile and thank him for everything from keeping her secret, getting her the roses and the drive home before refusing his offer to see her to her apartment.

She opened the car door and began to pull on her backpack before stepping on to the curb when Naru remembered another important part of his plan. Thankfully, like many teenaged girls, Mai had a couple cutsie animal figurines clipped on her zippers along with a few short strings of shiny beads. While her back was turned to him, just before she got out of the car, he used a small amount of PK to unclip one of them, causing it to fall into her empty seat.

She closed the door behind her and waved a cheery goodbye through the window before making her way inside while Naru watched her go. Once she was out of view he picked up the tiny trinket that appeared to be a cartoonish fox and placed it in his pocket. As he signalled and pulled away from the curb he began to devise his strategy for keeping an eye on Mai the next day.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the office Lin emerged from his office with a file in hand, bypassing the college student who was silently bobbing his head while he worked and gave a brief knock before opening Oliver's door, only to find it empty.

"Did Naru leave with Taniyama-san?" he asked, only to receive no response from his colleague. he frowned at the back of part-timers head before moving to stand directly in front of his desk to make it painfully clear that he was being addressed.

Yasuhara paused from his reading and beat-keeping when Lin's large shadow loomed over his text book and quickly paused his tunes before removing his headphones.

"Sorry Lin-san, I was in the zone. What's up?"

"I had asked you if Naru left with Taniyama-san."

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago, it looked like he was taking her home." This information seemed odd to Lin. He was under the impression that Naru was planning on spending the next hour and a half gathering more insight on Mai's increasingly present abilities. Something must have changed. Perhaps the call of his new car had been to loud to ignore. Lin internally smirked; he was just a teenage boy, after all.

"Has big boss ever been to Mai-chan's before?" Yasuhara interrupted Lin's internal musings with an unusually serious expression, sparking his curiosity.

"I don't think so, why do you ask?" Lin watched as Yasu seemed to have some sort of internal struggle over how to respond.

"Mai-chan's neighbourhood is a little on the, dingy side." He explained carefully. "And her apartment could be described as a little… depressing." He settled on this descriptive word and watched Lin's one visible eye carefully for his reaction.

"… And you're worried that Naru is going to find it to be unacceptable." The tall Chinese man surmised.

"No," Yasu corrected him. "I _know_ that he is going to find it to be unsuitable, I'm _worried_ that he is going to hold it against me for not having said anything about it. So for the record, I didn't mention it because I didn't want to rat her out. She's only living there because she is trying to save up for College. You understand, don't you Lin-san?"

"Hmm." Lin narrowed his eyes and refused to comment further. He would reserve his judgement for when he has more information. Yasuhara began packing up his things.

"But now if he brings it up you can tell him that I have mentioned it to you right? But if you'll excuse me, I would like to leave before he gets back, just incase he is as ticked as I expect him to be." He swung his packed messenger bag over his shoulder and turned to face Lin as he casually backed towards the door. "Thanks for having my back Lin-san! Have a good night!" And then he was gone.

Lin stood silently in the middle of the empty office for a moment, processing this new piece of information. If Noll was going to be as displeased as Yasu expected him to be, then he will probably be looking for a way to fix it. Meaning if Lin played his cards right, this could work out for him. He and Oliver spent far too much time together, and he longed to be able to return to a space of his own at the end of the day. But the Davis' would never sleep at night if they knew that their remaining son lived alone in Tokyo. There had to be someone around to keep an eye on him. Lin allowed himself a small smile while he returned to his office, seeing as he was all alone. Who said that someone had to be Lin?

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Confrontation**

 **A/N:** Okay, so I am very sorry for the delay. The week before Christmas I was part of a mass layoff at work and found out I was pregnant all on the same day. Since then A lot has changed for me between moving hours away and wrapping my head around my new reality I wasn't really in the right mental state to work on a fictional reality since I was still working on my own. Plus I have a very excited fiancé who happens to soak up as much of my attention as he can (it is actually very sweet, I can't cough without him jumping up to get me a glass of water or whatever I want).

So enough with the excuses, I am going to try to pick this up again and keep at it. I actually have quite a bit planned for this story, I just need to make the time to sit down and write it up.

Thank you for your patience, and thank you for reading. If you like what you read please leave a review, it may encourage me to work harder at getting the next chapter out.

S.


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